Harry Potter and the Mind's Descent
by Nox23
Summary: Ch6 is up! Harry takes a trip with Sirius and investigates trouble before his big trial. please read & review! Post GoF, mixed canon/AU.
1. New Recruits

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, but that would be cool. Not that I'm into slavery, but it would be fun. The world is JK Rowling's, strictly. I don't make any money off of this.

The bloody thief was getting away. With all her might, the pink-haired auror sprinted after the fugitive, throwing stunner after stunner at him, but sacrificing accuracy for speed. Frantically running around looking for the building's exit, he made it harder by throwing trap jinxes over his shoulder for her to dodge while in pursuit. The anti-apparation wards only held true within the building, and if he made it out he'd be able to disappear again. Tonks wasn't going to let that happen.

They were on the third floor still, so there was still a chance of catching up, even though the thief had started out with a huge lead on her. If she could have just kept her footing and not tripped...

He leaped down the stairwell onto the second floor and almost made it to the first when a flash of red light from the auror's wand hit the wall behind him and he froze, looking back. Tonks had almost caught up. She heard him shout his frustration and throw a jelly-legs jinx at her, but she dove out of the way just in time. The last thing she needed was a spell to make her even more clumsy. The filthy thief ran down the steps to the first floor and made his way across to the exit. Tonks got to the bottom to watch him near the door, where he could disapparate immediately. She had to do something.

"Mad-Eye, take down the wards!" She screamed into the receiver on the inside of her hood. Her mentor didn't respond but she had to assume he had heeded her command. Tonks turned on the spot, squishing her face in concentration, and reappeared just outside the doorway, except she wasn't Tonks. In her place stood a long-bearded old man with a navy robe, waiting for the thief to cross the threshold. As expected, he made it out into the open air and collapsed with shock as he saw Albus Dumbledore standing inches from him.

"Mundungus Fletcher. Might we be able to have a chat?" asked the old man, although he had the distinct voice of a woman. Fletcher turned over and made to get up and disapparate when a heavily scarred man appeared seemingly out of nowhere and bound him with conjured ropes. Mundungus shouted with defeat as he looked up to see Dumbledore turning back into the pink-haired auror and bending down to pick him up.

"Nice work, Tonks," the scarred man said sarcastically. "I'm guessing he got a head start from a trip or fall on your behalf?" he asked, growling as he led the two into an alley.

"I got him didn't I, Mad-Eye?" Tonks scowled in self-defense. She took down the thief like she was supposed to, not even knowing why they were bothering with such a low-life, and didn't expect snide remarks from the man she was helping.

"You should have had him from the beginning! I know he's a slippery weasel but I'd expect a fully fledged auror to have caught up to him by the second floor." Mad-Eye was digging in his pockets for something while still grumbling about his frustrations. "Anyone could have seen...not safe...traitors...constant vigilance."

"I see retirement's treating you well," Tonks said under her breath, low enough for Mad-Eye not to hear. She knew that he had spent the better part of the last year inside of his own wizard's chest while being impersonated by a Death Eater, but she still didn't like that she was being reprimanded by the man when her being there was a favor to him, so she wasn't cutting much slack. "Can you tell me what we're doing with him now? All the mysteriousness has me nervous, Mad-Eye."

"That's my girl," said Mad-Eye appreciatively, proud at her slight paranoia. He had trained her well. "But before I fill you in," he put his wand to Fletcher's face and stunned him. "Drop him on the floor for a moment." Tonks did so, glad to have her hands free of the alcohol-reeking Mundungus. She wiped them on the front of her robes as she returned her gaze to Mad-Eye.

"Okay, so what are we dealing with? Why some common thief? He owe you money or something?"

Mad-Eye chuckled darkly. "Not even close. Why'd you become an auror, Tonks?"

She was surprised by his question. She was sure she'd answered it in her acceptance interview years ago, when she was questioned by the same man standing in front of her. "You asked me that already, in my interview, Mad-Eye. Wasn't it you who told me to never answer the same question twice to the same person?"

Another dark chuckle. "You're my protege, alright. Refresh my memory."

She looked at him peculiarly. "My cousin is Sirius Black. As you know, he was training to be an auror when I was little. I remember he'd tell me all about how he'd catch the bad guys and put them away, and every time he visited I'd eat up everything he said. That was before I turned seven and he was found to be a Death Eater and sent to Azkaban. Anyway, he's as good as dead to me but I still grew up dreaming of doing that, catching the dark wizards out there, making sure people like my cousin didn't walk the streets freely."

Mad-Eye nodded silently. "So it's probably been a boring year for you as an auror, what with You-Know-Who being gone and you not being on the team looking for Black" Tonks nodded back, wondering where he was going with, and let him continue. "Well, you'll probably keep having a boring year. As I told you before, he's back. And yes, I mean _he's_ back. But Fudge is so daft he doesn't want to admit anything's wrong, because then he'd have to deal with it. You'll be sitting around knowing that You-Know-Who's out there while the Minister orders all departments to continue business as usual. That sound like fun to you, Tonks.?"

Tonks simply shook her head, looking confused. "Where are you going with this, Mad-Eye?"

"What if I told you that you could have a chance to do something, aside from your auror work, against You-Know-Who? What if there was a way for you to really show how much you want to catch dark wizards?"

"I'd say you were daft and most likely pulling my leg."

"Not a chance, Tonks. Are you in?"

"You're not much of a thorough salesman, Mad-Eye. But yeah, I'm in. What does this scumbag have to do with it?"

Mad-Eye smiled a scarred smile and tossed her what he was digging in his pockets for, an old watch. "Grab him and hold on to it. It's a portkey. You two are the newest recruits." As Tonks firmly grasped Mundungus' collar and Mad-Eye touched the watch with her, they felt the tug and disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The calm that lovingly blanketed Privet drive was pleasant and still. Every resident was sleeping, because staying up past ten o'clock was improper. All was quiet, until the slow purr of a car engine made its way through the neighborhood. Had anyone been awake, people would have wondered what scandalous activity their neighbors were up to at this time of night.

The car pulled into the driveway of Number 4, and out of the car marched a walrus of a man, a giraffe of a woman, and a small whale of a son. They made their way to the front door, paying no attention to the fourth member of the car, who slowly opened the boot of the car and took out his rather large trunk and owl cage.

The boy walked up to the door with his luggage and struggled to open the door. He was starving and a sandwich would have been amazing, but he hadn't hoped for as much. A half-bowl of soup and a few crumbs of bread would most likely be his meal tonight. His family didn't need to worry about food; on the way home from picking him up at King's Cross Station they had stopped for dinner, leaving him in the car while they dined on a small feast. They had preceded to boast about how delicious the dinner was, making sure to stress the fact that he was in the car not eating with them.

Walking up to the stairs and starting to ascend them to his room, the smallest in the house, Harry was stopped by his uncles' outburst. "Boy!"

He stopped and slowly looked around to where his uncle was. As sarcastically polite as he could manage, Harry simply asked, "Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

The two had a ten-second stare-down before Uncle Vernon growled, "You've got some nerve, boy."

Placing a fake look of serious thought on his face, Harry said, "Sorry, Uncle Vernon. Did I do something to offend you?"

"Offend me? Offend? My living room was destroyed, and my son's tongue was grown to longer than a tail! That happened just a year after you blew up my sister! You come back every Summer just expecting us to continue being hospitable to you! If you weren't Petunia's nephew, you'd be out on the street, but out of the good of our hearts you have a place to go every Summer, which you continue to trash, covering it with ruddy letters, terrorizing my business clients, blowing up my sister, trashing my living room with your freak friends! You're gonna show some sort of humility, boy, or you'll be out of this house. You're not going to act like we do nothing for you!"

Harry was starting to lose his temper, just a little bit. "Yes, Uncle Vernon. You've done so much for me over the years." He kept his voice calm, but it steadily rose. "For instance, I really appreciate the accommodations you made for me up until I was eleven." He pointed under the stairs. "That cupboard was where you kept me hidden from everybody, while Dudley had two rooms." His voice suddenly raised to a yell. "When you found out someone knew about where I stayed, you moved me to the smallest room here, only so you wouldn't get in trouble, because you knew that making a child sleep in the _goddamn_ cupboard under the stairs is downright wrong. Then you go and install a cat flap and full set of locks on my door for good measure, keeping me inside like a bloody prisoner!"

He switched his glare to his aunt. He'd held all this in for too long; it was too late stop it now. "Is this what you wanted for me, Petunia? Is this how you honor your dead sister, by treating her son like garbage all his life? You two couldn't have been at odds your whole lives; there had to be some time when you were friends, when you loved her like family. Forget how the way you've treated me affects me, forget how the way you let _him _treat me affects me, think about how my mother would feel, how your sister would feel, how your parents would feel, if they knew what I grew up dealing with.

"And do you know what I go through away from this hell hole? Do any of you have the slightest idea what I faced just a week ago? I watched the man who murdered my parents get resurrected to full strength." Harry didn't notice his aunts tiny whimper. "I watched as he killed a friend of mine in cold blood, just like he did my parents all those years ago. He used me to come back. He cut my arm open and took my blood! Then he made me duel him, and put me under the worst pain imaginable before I was able to escape. _That's_ why I'm not in much of a mood to have a fit over how well you've been treating me, Vernon. I'm sorry if I'm a downer this Summer but you'll just have to deal with it." Harry took a deep breath. He couldn't believe he had let that much out, but it had been bottled up for so long and he just need to explode. Then the quietest voice broke the minute-long silence in the room.

"You – you saw him? You faced him?" It was Aunt Petunia, and she had lost what little color she had in her skin. It was like she had seen a thousand ghosts.

"Yes. It was the third time that I've faced him." Aunt Petunia gasped, but Harry continued. "First time was when I was eleven, the next was a year later. Both times he tried to return, but I was lucky enough to stop him. I wasn't so lucky this time. He's back."

Vernon, who had looked at this exchange between his wife and nephew with confusion, wondering what the big deal was, narrowed his gaze on Harry and started towards him, his voice dangerously quiet as he said, "You listen, boy. I don't give a damn what you've done or who you've faced here. You are nothing to us, just a burden that we only have to deal with for a couple more years. If this killer you speak of is coming to give you the same sticky end as your parents, that's all jolly good for him, but if he comes for you when you are here, he'll have to hurry to get to you before I do. I'll not have you endangering this family. I've worked too hard to maintain a quiet, normal life for you and your freakishness to come in and screw it all up."

Harry was too tired for this. He knew blowing up on Vernon again wouldn't do anything, and he just wanted to go to sleep for the entire Summer, or at least until he could escape from Privet Drive. He turned to continue up the stairs, but was knocked off his feet by a large fist hitting him square in the jaw. He landed awkwardly on the stairs. Petunia gasped again, but didn't speak up or do anything. Dudley smirked as he continued to watch the exchange, not at all bugged by the violence unfolding.

"I've been too lenient on you, boy." Vernon aimed a kick to Harry's ribs, and Harry yelled in pain and frustration as it connected. "Perhaps a good beating will do you some good." He grabbed Harry by the back of his sweater and tossed him down the stairs, and his nephew landed on a heap at the bottom of the stairs, at Petunia's feet. Vernon walked down the stairs slowly, eying Harry with a ferociously crazed look. Harry looked up at his aunt, who was staring at Vernon wide-eyed and terrified. His uncle had reached him, and was about to stomp down on his back when a shout broke the air.

"Stop it, Vernon!" It was Petunia. She had replaced her terrified look with a disgusted one and leaned down to help Harry get up. Vernon and Dudley looked dumbfounded. Harry was just as shocked, but his face was too busy wincing in pain to show any surprise. She looked at her husband, and said calmly, "You are not going to hurt him like that anymore. I'm going to help him upstairs and bring him some food. You and Dudley should get to bed, it's been a long day for everybody. Go upstairs."

Vernon looked ready to say something, but stopped, knowing that his wife meant business. He gestured to Dudley, and the two waddled up the stairs and separated towards opposite ends of the hallway. Petunia allowed Harry to rest on her shoulder as she helped him walk up the stairs. They got to the room where she helped him to the bed and rushed out.

She made two more trips up to his room, once with his trunk and once more about twenty minutes later with a leftover meat pie, which was one of the biggest meals Harry had ever eaten at Privet. As she left him with his food, he managed a "thank you," which stopped her at the doorway. She looked back at him over her shoulder, into his green eyes, the same as her sister's and didn't have to say anything in return. She shut the door and walked down the hallway to the master bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still holding onto an unconscious Mundungus, Tonks crash-landed in a small neighborhood park. She cursed herself and her lack of balance and got up, dusting herself off and glaring at Mad-Eye with spiteful envy; he had landed perfectly on his feet, and was now mumbling something about finding a piece of parchment in his pocket. While barely listening to him, Tonks looked around. The neighborhood looked less than friendly, with dirty houses and junk in the front yard. Yellow lawns were more popular than green ones, and, it seemed, people around here forgot how to count, as she noted the discrepancy in one series of houses.

"What is this place, Mad-Eye, and why is it that Number 11 is next to Number 13?"

"Good eye, Tonks." He handed her the parchment that he was looking for earlier. It contained one hand-written sentence in curly writing: 'The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place.' Tonks was extremely confused, until she looked up from the parchment and saw that, in between Numbers 11 and 13, Number 12 had appeared, as if pushing the other two houses out of the way. The house matched the others, with chipping black paint and the shabby look of a severe lack of occupancy. The only difference was a large silver doorknocker in the shape of a serpant.

"Things aren't adding up, Mad-Eye. You needed me to help catch this low life criminal, then you tell me that the two of us are new recruits of something apparently called the Order of the Phoenix, which is important enough to cast a Fidelius Charm over. What's going on?"

"You'll find out inside, let's just get in. We could have been seen out of any of those windows, and then the whole thing would be blown. Oh hell, I forgot about Mundungus." Mad-Eye pointed his wand at Fletcher and said, "Ennervate!" Suddenly the thief opened his eyes as if he had never been knocked out.

"Oi! Gimme outta these ropes! You got no reason to be capturin' me, I done nothin' wrong!" Mad-Eye moved to hold the paper in front of Mundungus' face, before he said something that Tonks assumed was only meant to get under her skin, and it worked.

"Listen, little _Nymphadora,_ you'd best unbind me or -" but his threat never made it out of his mouth as Tonks' fist connected with his face upon his using of her first name. He was knocked out for the second time that night.

"Dammit, Tonks! He's gotta be awake to read this. Ennervate!" Mad-Eye shouted again, waking Mundungus back up. Before he could sputter anything, Mad-Eye aimed a hex at his face and growled, "Shut up, Mundungus. Read the parchment."

"And don't you _dare_ call me Nymphadora," Tonks warned with her wand lit and inches from the man's nose.

Tonks saw him read and then look up, bored at the sudden appearance of Number 12. "What the hell is this, then? Torturin' me? Takin' me to a safe location where I can't be heard screamin'? People'll come lookin', Mad-Eye. I'll be missed and you'll be found out -" Once again, Tonk's fist found Mundungus' face, to no complaint by Moody this time. They walked towards Number 12, Tonks dragging Mundungus' limp bound body.

Mad-Eye knocked softly on the door, which surprised Tonks. Soft and gentle were grouped with words like weakness and failure in her mentor's vocabulary. The door clicked open and out peeked, to Tonks' surprise, the fire-red hair of Molly Weasley. "Hello, Mad-Eye. Tonks, dear, so glad you've decided to join." She peered disapprovingly at the captured drunk in Tonks' grasp. "I see you've found Mundungus. Well, come on in, and please try not to knock into anything, Tonks, I beg you."

As if on cue, Tonks' leg slammed into an umbrella stand on her way in, knocking it over and causing her to curse in frustration. Then, a deafening scream echoed through the home, though its source was coming from Tonks' right, where moth-eaten curtains were shaking with noise. Mrs. Weasley ran over to the curtains and tried to hold them shut, while a man in a very shabby suit with graying sandy-brown hair ran from the kitchen and sent a silencing charm at whatever was behind them. Still, the curtains were straining against Mrs. Weasley's grip.

"Molly, you can let go." said the man, and as she did so, the curtains moved aside and a horribly vivid painting of an old woman appeared and was shouting at the top of her lungs. Fortunately, none of the shouting was heard, but the woman was trying with all her might to find volume, until she was blue in the face. When she saw Tonks, she strangely glared and pointed at her, screaming silently. Tonks dropped Mundungus in fear, and he landed on the ground with a thud. After about fifteen seconds, she seemed to be too tired and the curtains closed back up.

Still in shock, Tonks apologized quietly to everyone, including the shabby-suited man, who Tonks found attractive despite his being clearly older. She replaced her apologetic look with a smile, until two new-comers came into the room. One of them was silver-haired with a very long beard and twinkling blue eyes behind half-moon glasses, and she recognized him as Albus Dumbledore, her old Headmaster and the wizard she had impersonated earlier to scare Mundungus.

The other, who had just asked the room in a whimsical tone who had awoken his bitch of a mother, had long black hair and was dressed in a suit that was nicer than the sandy-haired man's was. He had the look of someone who had just recovered from sickness or depression, which was understandable, since he had been in Azkaban for twelve years. Tonks was looking at her Death Eater cousin, Sirius Black.

Midway through a gasp, Tonks screamed, "Petrificus Totalus!" and her cousin stiffened up like a board and fell backwards, landing on the ground with a thud similar to when she had dropped Mundungus. She started forward to bind him, but was caught by Dumbledore, who held her back while she struggled. "That's him! Why are you all so calm? Sirius Black is here!" The painting had opened back up, but the familiar man in the old suit had already taken care of her with another silencer spell, a look of sadness on him as he watch the scene.

"Nymphadora, let us go into the kitchen. There are things you should know prior to joining the Order." Tonks looked up at Dumbledore, and something about his old eyes calmed her, so she let him lead her to the kitchen, though stomping on her cousin as she passed him.

With everyone except Dumbledore at the kitchen table, Tonks looked around at the variety of people present. Only Mrs. Weasley, the older man, who Tonks learned was named Remus Lupin, and Dumbledore had come to see the commotion with the painting, not counting her cousin. Also seated at the table were Arthur Weasley, Molly's husband, and Bill Weasley, her son and Tonks' teenage crush at Hogwarts. She blushed at seeing him and kept looking. She saw Minerva McGonagall, her old Transfiguration Professor, her boss in the Auror Department, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and, to her horror, her old Potions Professor Severus Snape, looking extremely unwilling to be there.

She also saw a few people that she didn't know, including a man in a tall purple top hat, an elderly wizard who looked to be Dumbledore's age, a smart-looking middle aged witch, and a familiar looking woman who might have been a few years ahead of Tonks at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore walked in with Black behind him, looking dazed. The old man gave Tonks a reassuring gaze as he took his seat at the head of the table. Black took his seat next to Remus and across from Tonks. Her grip tightened around her wand.

"Now that we have our new arrivals, we can begin the meeting," Dumbledore started. Mad-Eye pointed his wand at Mundungus and the smelly man came to, and was about to start shouting until Moody's wand was shoved into his face. Moody pointed forcefully at Dumbledore to get Mundungus to pay attention. "First things first, our recruits. Please welcome Mundungus Fletcher and Nymphadora Tonks. He gracefully waved his hand to Tonks and Mundungus.

"Tonks, please, just call me Tonks. I hate that bloody name. Anyway, hello, and, well," formalities aside, she got right into it. "Can someone please explain to me why a Death Eater is sitting at a table with Dumbledore and three aurors?"

She felt a bit rude with her question but this was too important. For four years she was told by her mother that Sirius just had to go away for a long time. She would spend almost everyday that first few months asking when he'd be coming back to visit. In her first year at Hogwarts, she finally learned the truth about what her cousin was, a murderer and Death Eater. It only strengthened her drive to be an Auror, to catch people like her cousin, and when he escaped two years ago that drive was increased ten-fold. Now the man was in front of her, and her mentor and boss, along with one of the most powerful wizards in the world, were also present and not doing anything.

"Nympha-"

"No, Minerva, please," Black said. "I'll explain. First, Nymmy," she gasped at the nickname he had given her when she was little. "I'm so sorry. You were like a little sister to me, and I regret with all of my heart that I couldn't watch you grow, but I cannot begin to express how proud I am. I've been told you've just made Auror, and you're one of the brightest since Moody."

"All the better to catch murderers like you."

"Nymmy-"

"Don't call me that!" She was beginning to tear up, but it wasn't at the cost of her volume or current rage. "You lost any family connection to me when you killed those people, when you became the very type of man that you yourself inspired me to grow up to take down!"

Her cousin sighed, and began to pull his right sleeve up, revealing clean skin. He smirked and said, "No Dark Mark." Tonks hadn't expected that one. "I was framed that night by Peter Pettigrew. He betrayed our friends, Lily and James Potter. You remember them? I brought them over to your place a few times. I went after him and he killed 13 people before escaping. The whole thing was put on me. He'd actually been living with the Weasleys this whole time, pretending to be dead but living in his rat animagus form." He said the last statement slightly whimsically, as if it was amusing. "I never would have killed those people, never would have betrayed my best friends, and never would have purposefully left you and your mum behind. I'm sorry." He looked down at the table, eyes glistening.

This was too much to take in. She had never had such a steady flow of tears as she listened to Sirius' story, and saw in his eyes that he was telling the truth. Tonks didn't care who else was there, she was so happy and yet so horrified that he was innocent. She just wanted to give her cousin a hug and tell him that she was sorry she didn't believe in him, that she had spent the last decade working hard to get revenge on him when he didn't even do anything wrong. Her simultaneous joy and sorrow were cut short however, by a cold voice from Dumbledore's end of the table.

"How touching," Snape said dryly. "Tell me, Black, when did our Order meetings become a family bonding opportunity? I was under the assumption that we adults had dangerous business to attend to, so maybe you should hold your reunion in the hall."

"That's enough Severus," Dumbledore said, trying to cool the situation as Sirius' hand was inching towards his wand. "Now that we are all clear as to Sirius' innocence, let us make things official. Nymphadora Tonks, do you accept to put your efforts towards fighting the dark wizard Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort?" Everyone around the table shuddered at Voldemort's name, especially Snape. Tonks never saw the big deal with the whole name thing. She thought it was stupid to give him that much power.

"That's the focus of the Order?" Tonks clarified.

"Yes. He's currently in the process of recruiting followers to his cause. We are trying to counter that by expanding our own number. Also, guard duty will be required at several locations, namely the house of Harry Potter's aunt and uncle where Mr. Potter is currently living, and at the Department of Mysteries. More information will be provided later."

Tonks took a moment of silence to think it over. This had to be some sort of rule-breaking, if this was all being done behind the Ministry's back. But she had really made her decision back in the alley with Mad-Eye, before Sirius and before Dumbledore.

"Yes. I'll Join," she said simply, nodded her head.

"Excellent. And you, Mundungus?"

Pleased to have the floor, Mundungus cleared his throat. Tonks thought he looked ridiculous as he sat up straight and proper, still sporting the bindings. Mad-Eye aimed his wand at the man and the ropes disappeared. "Well, Dumbledore, I don' know. I didn' get a heartfelt family reunion like Nympha- ah!" Tonks stomped her foot hard on his. "I mean, like Tonks here did. I'd like to talk payment. This business seems like I'll be puttin' me life on the line here an' there, an' I believe some salary might not be out of the question."

Dumbledore smiled. "Mundungus, we will not be paying you. Yes, your efforts and special connections would be most appreciated by the Order, but your payment, aside from the good feeling you will get from helping the good side, will be to not have your memory relieved of everything you have seen tonight, as well as the knowledge that nobody in the Order will betray you to the proper authorities, and you can bet that we do know a lot of what you have been up to."

Mundungus gulped and put his hand up to his forehead in a salute. "Pleased to be at your service, sir."

"Good!" Dumbledore said, clapping his hands together and smiling. "Now onto the next order of business, are there any _newer_ recruits that anyone has found and believed to be of use to us?"

Bill raised his hand. "Fleur Delacour's been working with me at Gringotts ever since I switched to a desk job. She's more than willing to fight for our cause."

"Sounds good. We know Miss Delacour is league with Madam Maxime, and she is quite the skilled witch, having been a Triwizard Champion, so she would be an excellent resource to us. Anyone else?"

When nobody else spoke, Dumbledore said, "Okay next up, Severus, you have a report?"

"Yes, Albus. The Dark Lord has been recently attempting to send envoys to werewolves and is contemplating sending them to the giants as well. If there is any other news, I do not know about it."

Tonks froze. Snape was a spy Death Eater? 'That would explain the whole evil look about him. How creepy,' she thought.

"Thank you, Severus. Hagrid and Madam Maxime are currently still on their way to communicate with the giants, and they have been warned to keep an eye out for Death Eaters on their journey. About the werewolves, Remus, do you have any contacts with different clans that may be willing to listen to reason?"

"I don't have the greatest pull among werewolves, as you would imagine. I know a few that have integrated into wizard society, as I have, so I will start speaking to a some to see where their loyalties will fall, and try to build a connection to a few clans."

"Thank you Remus, and now..."

Tonks didn't hear the next few minutes. She was too shocked at the fact that the attractive man sitting at the table was a werewolf. She knew not to have prejudice about any group of people, but it was still very interesting. This man seemed nice, and all that she had heard about werewolves was negative and fearful.

"Thank you, Arthur. Well I think I will wrap the meeting up short. Any last thoughts?" With a few head shakes, Dumbledore said, "Alright. We will meet at the same time next Wednesday. Thanks again to you all, and welcome Mundungus and Nymphadora." Tonks screamed on the inside when her name was spoken but she bit her tongue. Everybody got up, except for her, Remus, and Sirius.

"Have you met Remus, Nymmy, or should I call you Tonks now?" Sirius asked, trying to break the tension. Remus wore a smirk of a smile and raised his hand to wave.

"I think I've outgrown the nickname thanks," Tonks said, laughing. "Just Tonks is fine, it's what I've gone by since my first year." She turned to Remus. "I've found out your name but we haven't been properly introduced." She held her hand out to shake his.

"It's a pleasure. I must say you are really quick with a wand. I don't think think anyone but me has knocked Sirius down like that."

More laughter. After such an emotional night, laughing felt good. "I'm sorry about that, Sirius. In my defense, I still thought you were a fugitive and I am an auror."

"You are forgiven, Tonks. Though I think my arse will be sore for a while now. How are your mum and dad?"

"They're great. Mum just retired early and Dad still runs the shop in Hogsmeade. Can I tell them about you?"

"Well, for that you may want to talk to Dumbledore. He controls every other aspect of my life, he might as well control which family I can talk to."

Remus smirked. "Now, Sirius, you know he's worried about you being captured. The things Dumbledore does may be questionable at times but he's a fantastic leader and I'm sure that everything he does is for the best."

"I'd like them to know about you, so I'll ask Dumbledore. Anyway, I'm sorry that I can't stay and catch up, but I've been awake for a day and a half now and I don't believe I'd be much use to the Order if I die of exhaustion.

"Of course. You should come to next week's meeting a little earlier, and the three of us can eat and get acquainted."

"That sounds great." Smiling, she came around the table, shaking Remus' hand and hugging her cousin for the first time in 13 years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry stared at his food, too shocked to eat. What had just happened? He'd never seen his aunt act the way that she had tonight, standing up to Vernon and helping Harry. Had his words about his mother gotten to her, or was it the knowledge that Voldemort was back?

He wondered if things would be different now. Would Petunia be able to keep Vernon and Dudley in check or would she go back to her cruel apathy towards him? Harry seriously doubted that she had undergone a complete change of heart. Even if she had, Vernon would find some way around her to terrorize Harry. He'd never been as violent with him as he was tonight, and Harry didn't think that Vernon would get just a taste of beating Harry without wanting more.

He really didn't feel safe sleeping if he knew his uncle could just wait for Petunia to fall asleep before coming to Harry's room and wailing on him. This was extremely unfair. Voldemort was back and could come after Harry at any time, and yet the more imminent threat right now was sleeping just down the hall.

Sleep was sounding better and better to Harry, but he couldn't. He wasn't going to just lay here and be a sitting duck for Vernon. If his uncle came in his room to rough him up some more tonight, Harry had be ready. He was sure the Ministry of Magic would understand his use of magic away from school if he was using it to protect himself. He sat up against his headboard, wand in hand, watching the door, sporting a feeling of paranoia. He was fighting every threatening sink of his eyelids when he suddenly opened them wide in an epiphany. Why had he not thought of it before?

Harry cleared his throat, not sure if this was going to work. He called out the house-elf's name. "Dobby?"

A crack occurred in the corner of Harry's room, and a house elf dressed in a maroon sweater with a stiched "R" on it, two mismatched socks, and a Santa-hat appeared. Dobby ran to Harry, a smile on his face. "Harry Potter is needing Dobby! Dobby is doing Harry Potter's bidding at all hours of the day if it is needed!"

Harry couldn't help laughing at his friend. "Hey, Dobby. How are things at Hogwarts?"

"Harry Potter is great! Harry Potter asks how Dobby is as if Dobby is a friend!"

"Of course you're my friend, Dobby. You've done a lot for me the past couple of years and I'm glad to have a friend like you."

Dobby's eyes teared up, but he continued on. "Hogwarts is heavenly, sir. Dobby has saved up over 50 galleons, sir! I is not know what I is buying yet, but it will be something amazing, sir!"

"Do you have to call me sir, Dobby? It sounds a little weird."

"Harry Potter deserves the title of sir, sir. Harry Potter saved Dobby from the evil Malfoy family, and Dobby is forever in Harry Potter's debt."

Harry shook his head, chuckling and not knowing what to do about Dobby's slightly annoying affection. "Look Dobby, I wanted to ask, how would you like to make more money than you do at Hogwarts? Unless you really like it there, and then you can go ahead and keep at it."

Dobby's eyes grew wide, wider than Harry had ever seen. "Harry Potter...wants Dobby to work for him?"

"Well, yeah. I started out thinking I'd just have you on guard duty at night, because my uncle apparently has a liking for violence now. But then I thought, I could use the company, and I could have you run a few errands for me, since it's pretty hard to get out of the house, let alone go to Diagon Alley. What do you say? I'll give you 20 galleons a week, or more if you want."

Dobby, who had been looking pale with shock before, almost collapsed at the idea of getting paid 20 times what he made at Hogwarts, and tried to refuse. "Dobby views it as the highest privilege to look after Harry Potter! Dobby will not accept any payment for this honor!" He saluted Harry.

"Dobby, I'll be giving you the twenty galleons a week or I'll send you back to Hogwarts. And I order you never to salute me." He tried to sound as stern as he could while still smiling. Dobby agreed, but only after refusing any vacation time for his new job.

Harry had something else he wanted to ask Dobby about, but after looking at the time and wanting to do Vernon's job and beat himself up for being up so long, he bid Dobby goodnight and passed out, while Dobby sat on Harry's trunk and watched the door intently. He felt too sleepy to let Dobby know he could read or something to occupy himself, and drifted off to sleep wondering how his family was going to react to his new house elf in the morning.

A/N: It's great finally having something up on here. Please keep reading and reviewing so that I can get better. I'm sorry I don't have a title yet, and my summary is pretty much crap; I'm surprised anyone clicked on my story with that summary and title. But I'm glad so many have read and that I already have a couple reviews. Thanks for the praise but any kind of criticism would be appreciated. Even if you're mean to me it'll make me better at writing so go crazy. Thanks for reading, everybody. Next one should be up this week. =)


	2. First Impressions

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, but that would be cool. Not that I'm into slavery, but it would be fun. The world is JK Rowling's, strictly. I don't make any money off of this.

Harry woke up at about eleven the next morning to the surprising smell of bacon. He opened his eyes, and didn't see Dobby anywhere. Could last night have been a dream? Maybe he hadn't been the subject of rare protection at the hands of Petunia or the new employer of his house-elf friend. The Summer looked for a second like it was going to take a turn for the better, but it seemed as though Harry was just having silly dreams last night. Maybe Uncle Vernon had just knocked him out with that first punch and he had imagined the rest.

He got up and tried to follow the smell of bacon downstairs. It was peculiar for the Dursleys to have already started breakfast on a day that Harry was there; he was always the one who cooked meals. However, the smell abruptly stopped when Harry reached the hallway. He went back in his room, and the good smell returned. He walked past the doorways in his room leading his bathroom and kitchen and sat on his bed, confused. Then he looked up. He had a bathroom and kitchen in his room?

Harry got up and went straight to the kitchen. There the bacon smell was stronger, and he could see why as Dobby the house-elf was busy cooking eggs, pancakes, and bacon for him while standing on a stool. Harry was dumbstruck. He was standing in a kitchen almost as big as the one downstairs, with a large fridge and stove-top oven, and it led to a fantastic dining room with a table set for one person.

"Dobby!" He yelled to get the elf's attention. The house elf looked up and just turned his neck to speak while still working frantically on the three breakfast items.

"Harry Potter is awake! Dobby is making Harry Potter breakfast!"

"Dobby, what happened to my room? Why does it now have a kitchen and bathroom?" He had to pry Dobby's fingers off of spatula to take over flipping pancakes, but managed it.

"Dobby added rooms to your bedroom, sir! He knows how horrible those Dursies are to Harry Potter and now there is no needing to leave the room!"

"Dobby, this is brilliant. Just brilliant." Harry couldn't help but smile. He would have gladly given Dobby a two hundred percent raise for this. "But, how did you add rooms?"

"Elves have great magic, Harry Potter!" Dobby exclaimed as he fixed Harry a plate of bacon and eggs, to which Harry added a stack of pancakes. He took the plate to the table and bowed. "We is able to do things many wizards is not able to do, but we is limited by bad wizards who is forbidding elves to do lots of magic." Dobby snapped his fingers, and ketchup, syrup, salt, and pepper appeared on the table.

Harry walked over to the table and sat down. He started to eat savagely and reveled in how delicious everything was. He did feel a bit uncomfortable with Dobby simply watching him eating, however. "Um, Dobby, aren't you hungry? I want you to be able to eat anything you want while you're here. You're cooking; you should be able to eat as much as I should."

After many attempts to refuse food, Dobby finally conceded, and the two of them ate breakfast as equals.

After breakfast, Harry took a shower in his new bathroom while Dobby did the dishes. When he got back into his bedroom, he noticed a large owl sitting impatiently on his dresser, an envelope attached to it. Hedwig was in her cage going crazy over the presence of another owl, and a non-caged one at that. After letting Hedwig out to fly and apologizing profusely for forgetting to let her out the previous night, Harry untied the envelope from the other owl's leg. It flew out the window, Hedwig making sure that it got far away.

Harry looked at the envelope, and groaned as he saw that it was from the Ministry. He unfolded it and read:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We have received intelligence that several spells were performed at your place of residence, Number 4 Privet Drive, earlier this morning. The spells were as follows:

-Room addition charms (2)

-Multiple conjuring charms.

-Door-Sealing charm

-Apparition

-Dish cleaning charms

As you have been warned previously about your use of underage magic, the Ministry of Magic has decided on your immediate expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Due to a security warning submitted by the Minister of Magic concerning you, an auror will be arriving at Number 4 Privet Drive later today to confiscate your wand.

Good Day

Mafalda Hopkirk

"Dobby!" The elf ran up to Harry with eyes expecting to help with whatever he needed. "I forgot that the Ministry can track when you do magic at my house. They're going to expel me and take my wand. What do I do?"

Dobby suddenly went pale and ran to the wall to bang his head on it. "No! Dobby! I forbid you to hurt yourself, ever." The elf stopped and looked down.

"Dobby is sorry, Harry Potter. Dobby forgot to let Harry Potter know that he must register with the Ministry in order to own a house-elf, or else he will be blamed for all magic the house-elf is doing!"

Harry thought about this. "So, let me get this right, Dobby. If I register you as my house-elf, any magic that happens here will be assumed to be done by you?"

The house-elf nodded his head, turning his frown into a smile now. "Yes, Harry Potter. Dobby knows where you are going with this. Harry Potter will be able to do magic as long as he is being near Dobby!"

Harry couldn't contain his excitement. "Alright, Dobby! This is amazing. Should I send an owl to Ms. Hopkirk explaining it, or -"

But he was cut off by three loud bangs on his door. "Boy! It is almost noon and you are not going to sleep through the whole day without doing your chores!" They could hear Vernon trudging down the stairs as soon he nagged Harry.

"Well," Harry said, "I guess it's a good time to introduce you to my relatives, Dobby. Let's go." The two of them walked out of the room and down the stairs. Vernon was reading his paper, while Dudley was pigging out on crisps and blankly gazing at the television. Harry stood in the middle of the room, waiting for one of them to notice him hanging out with a magical creature.

He cleared his throat. Nothing happened. He did it again, louder this time, and Vernon looked over at Harry, scowling, until he saw Dobby and his expression went blank.

"Umm, Uncle Vernon, Dudley, this is my new house-elf, Dobby. Dobby, this is my uncle and cousin. Is Aunt Petunia around?"

"What is that thing?" Vernon asked slowly, ignoring Harry's question. They all heard a loud whimper as Dudley finally tore his eyes away from the TV and saw the elf standing by Harry, smiling nervously. He then got on his feet faster than Harry had ever seen him rise and ran upstairs, his hand held over his bottom.

Harry, trying hard not to laugh at what was possibly the funniest sight he had witnessed in a while, explained to Vernon. "Dobby's my house-elf. He'll be protecting me, helping to clean my room, and running errands for me for the time being. I just wanted to let you know that he'll be around." He put a nervous smile on his face to match Dobby's, hoping that maybe this was going to go smoothly.

Vernon looked like he was going to blow it. He was now sporting one of his patented purple faces. "I will not have that filthy thing in my house! You'll put it out, or I'll squash it myself."

Harry's look grew dark. He wasn't going to let Vernon insult his friend like that. "I wasn't asking, Uncle Vernon. I'm not going to be leaving my room very much anyway so you'll never have to deal with me or him. I just thought I should let you know. And also, he's going to be very alert in case you decide that you'd enjoy a little child abuse here and there."

Vernon squinted at Harry. "I'll not be talked to like that, boy." Like Dudley, Vernon to shot up and went straight for Harry, sticking his finger in his nephew's face. "In case you haven't noticed, your aunt isn't here, which means that there is nobody stop me this time from beating you to a pulp, and -"

But after a snap of Dobby's fingers, he suddenly was knocked backwards, flipping over the couch and landing in a heap behind it, and struggling to get back up. Dobby leapt up onto the couch and peered over it. "You shall not threaten Harry Potter," he said in a dangerous voice.

Vernon was leaning against the wall. Harry spoke up. "As I said, Dobby'll be protecting me while I'm here. What happened last night was a one-time occurrence. Not only am I probably about to be able to do magic around here, but as you can see, he packs quite a punch. Stay away from me this Summer, Uncle Vernon, and things'll be a whole lot easier."

His uncle didn't say anything, but just glared at Harry while gasping for breath. Harry felt victorious. He had a leg-up on Vernon, and with Dobby on his payroll, it didn't look like either of his family members could get to him. Vernon would just be blasted back again, and Dudley was probably too scared of Dobby to even move around him. Once he explained to the Ministry that he had a house-elf, he'd be able to do magic without anyone finding out it was him. Could things really be looking up?

His answer came in the form of the front door being blasted open, and after being a bit confused by a blur of pink, Harry bolted up the stairs to his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonks was at her work desk in a muggle rock band t-shirt and jeans, chewing some muggle bubble gum and looking through old newspapers. Her hair was a light shade of blue, as it was whenever she was in deep thought. She had been looking up articles from years and years ago, concerning Sirius. Now that she knew about her cousin's innocence, she could see the details of the murder in a new light. Muggle witnesses, before being obliviated, gave testimony that Pettigrew had been yelling at Sirius about betraying his friends, but Tonks saw that Peter had merely been trying to frame his friend, which worked. They also saw a crazed look in the small man's eye, which Ministry officials interpreted as anger and grief over his friends' deaths, but which Tonks saw as just madness and pure pleasure over getting away with it all. She grew disgusted with the story quickly as she threw the newspaper down.

So this man, Peter Pettigrew, was responsible for it all. He had betrayed the Potters and sent Voldemort after them that night; he had orphaned their son; he had taken Sirius away from her for so long, making her believe that her cousin was a murderer. What kind of spineless rat had that little honor? It made her sick as she thought about how Pettigrew was still believed to be dead, a hero, with the Order of Merlin, First Class glorifying his name forever while Sirius' name was only associated with fear and death.

She had to clear her head; tonight was her first night of guard duty at Privet Drive, watching over Harry Potter's house, and if all she had heard about the kid over the years were even half true, he could be one true hope against Voldemort, as long as he wasn't killed before he could become that hope. 'No pressure, Tonks.'

She got up, meaning to go get some fresh air, when a yell broke the quiet murmuring of the auror office. Kingsley Shacklebolt yelled said loudly across the room, "Tonks! My office, now."

Tonks rushed to her superior's office. She knew this had to be about the Order, since Kingsley almost never spoke to her directly; he was much too busy, having to look like he was leading the hunt for Sirius. Some things were easier to do than to appear to do.

She sat down in a chair across the desk from Kingsley's. He began quickly. "Tonks, Harry Potter has been doing magic at his house today. Most of the spells are harmless and really just house-keeping and basic security charms, but he also apparated out of his house and back."

Tonks continued chewing her gum. "That's it, Sir? I thought there was an attack or something. So is MLE going to go give him a talking to?" This didn't seem like a big deal. Only muggle-born kids were busted for doing magic out of school, and even then all that happened the first few times was a lecture from some nameless drone who worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"It's not so simple, Tonks. The Minister has placed a security warning on Potter. He's saying that the boy's claims about You-Know-Who after the Tri-Wizard Tournament make him a threat to the peace of the nation. Now whatever he does is considered far worse than if he were just another kid. It's stupid, I know," he said as Tonks' anger with the Ministry seemed to appear on her face. "But now he wants to send an auror to arrest the kid and put him on criminal trial. He had to go to Madam Bones to send aurors anywhere, and she tried calling the whole thing off and wanted to have Potter treated normally. He argued with her, something that he had never done before, which is a bad sign. If he's growing a big enough backbone to take on Amelia Bones, then who knows what he could try to change about the Auror Department later on.

"Anyway, the two of them haggled and Bones grudgingly agreed to having an auror just confiscate Potter's wand until she sits down with him herself. She put it up to me to assign an auror. Dumbledore said that I'm too high up to volunteer myself to go to deal with underage magic, and the only lower-rank auror that's in the Order happens to be headed to Privet Drive anyway."

"You want me to go and take Potter's wand? This is ridiculous. We're dark wizard catchers, and I'm doing a DMLE drone's job. I thought we were supposed to be protecting him," Tonks said uncomfortably. She did not want to heed the Minister's ridiculous orders.

"It's all what Fudge wants. He may not have been able to get Potter arrested, but it will get out that aurors were sent to his house, and I think that's what Fudge wanted to happen. The public's going to be on edge about what Harry Potter says if dark wizard catchers are calling at his home.

"Don't take it. Just stall until Dumbledore can reason with Fudge here. He's on his way, and you should be on yours to Privet Drive. Put on a tough show for his Aunt and Uncle but once you get Potter alone, Dumbledore wants you to let him know what's going on and who really sent you." He tossed her a golf ball. "It leaves in five seconds. Good luck with your first guard duty, Tonks."

Tonks felt the pull around her navel as soon as Kingsley stopped talking and found herself in the most boring neighborhood she had ever seen. Every single house was the same, with a pristine, spotless yard, and almost the same model of car in every driveway. Forcing her lunch to stay down, she walked straight up to Number Four.

She turned around and spotted Bill Weasley, who was currently on guard duty, on a roof across the street. He was disillusioned, but if you're looking for a disillusioned person, you can just make out the weirdness of the air. Tonks waved at him to make sure he knew not to attack. If she had seen someone appear in front of the house with a wand out, she would have attacked without hesitation.

Bill waved back, and Tonks could only make out a slight difference. She waved her wand in front of her and auror's robes appeared over her muggle clothing. Something told her that the robes would offend much less than a rock t-shirt and jeans here. Even so, she changed her hair to her favorite pink.

Just then, a silver lynx came dashing up to Tonks and spoke to her in Kingsley's clear, deep voice. "Potter just fired a stunner. Get in there NOW."

As soon as the lynx disappeared, Tonks ran to the door. She first thought to wave Bill down to assist, but figured that she could just message him for help if she needed it. It was only a fourteen year old kid.

She blasted the front door open and swiftly moved into the house. Potter had seen her and dashed up the stairs. Tonks looked around the room and saw a mustache with a very fat man attached to it leaning against the wall, panting, and a house-elf on the couch with his hands up, looking scared. She decided to ignore the strange scene downstairs and headed up to speak with Potter.

After cursing herself for tripping twice on her way up the stairs, Tonks hurried to the door and opened it. She had let her guard down and did not put her wand up as she entered, something that Mad-Eye would be sure to have her head for. Harry Potter was standing at the other side of the room, wand out and ready to fire a curse her way. Tonks could only think, 'aw he wants to fight, how cute.' She could tell he was taken aback by the site of her pink hair, a tool that tricked most fools expecting a no-nonsense auror with normally colored hair. She used his hesitation to bring her wand up and silently disarm him, catching his wand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry had lost. He had no wand and was staring at an auror with pink hair, who smirked as she held both wands at him. "Well, that went smoothly," the auror said. "Here, catch." And surprisingly, she tossed his wand back at him and went to sit on the bed, looking around the room. "This room is nice, kind of small but you do have the bathroom and kitchen conveniently conjured in here, so I'm sure you're not complaining. At least it's not too clean like the rest of the house is. All that cleanliness cannot be healthy, I tell you."

Harry was still standing in the same spot, shocked at what had transpired. All he could manage was , an "Um," and his face sported a very confused look.

"Sorry, where are my manners? You are, of course, Harry Potter, and I'm Tonks." She held out her hand and smiled wide. Harry noticed that her heart-shaped face made her smile seem even wider, and that her eyes were a strange shade of very pale blue. Even with in her Auror robes, he could tell that her body was fit, and he only just realized that his observations were showing on his face, frozen in a dumbfounded look. "Well, I know you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw, Harry, but I figured you could at least know to shake a person's hand when it's offered."

"Oh, sorry." Harry closed the few steps' distance and shook Tonks' hand. He mentally scolded himself for noticing just how soft her hand was. He pulled it away quickly, then pulled up a chair to sit on.

She giggled at him. "So, what's with all the magic this morning? I mean, you expect the average kid to perform some sort of summoning charm when they get lazy, but you've been pretty deliberately using it today. Especially the apparition, and that stunner against your uncle? That's pretty serious stuff Harry. If it was a different auror than me you would've been in a lot of trouble."

"Um, none of that was me. You saw my house-elf downstairs, right? He did all this to my room, then my uncle got stunned when I brought him downstairs and he threatened me. Dobby can be pretty protective, I guess. That's why I hired him last night. My uncle kind of got violent when we got back from King's Cross. I didn't want him to come into my room and beat me up again, so I decided to hire Dobby. He's a friend of mine. I don't know anything about the apparition, though. I'm guessing he went out to get food or something."

"Wow," was all that Tonks could say for a moment. "That's a lot. Well, I don't know if you knew this, but you've got to register your house-elf to your name at the Ministry, especially if you're underage. That should clear up any confusion."

"Yeah, I didn't really realize his magic could be tracked until I got an owl from Mafalda Hopkirk about being expelled and my wand being confiscated. I was about to send a letter back to the Ministry, but my uncle was banging on my door and I figured I'd take care of that first. Then all that commotion happened. So, why is it that if it were another auror, I'd be in trouble, and not you? Are you, like, a special auror or something?"

"Well, since last night I've been in this special kind of group, one that's run by Dumbledore. He wanted me to come here and pretty much stall until he can convince Fudge to ease off of you."

This shocked Harry. "What? So, you're in league with Dumbledore, and it looks like he's got pull in the auror office. I guess that's lucky for me. But, shouldn't he be focused on Voldemort right now? I'd imagine some underage magic wouldn't be very high on his radar when there's a muggle-killing psychopath out there."

She smiled. "You're important to a lot of people, Harry. I mean, I'm an auror and four years out of Hogwarts, and if even a few of the things I've heard you've done are true, you'd probably make a better auror, with a little training."

Harry tried to ignore the praise, but that was now two people that had told Harry that he'd be a good auror. Maybe that was a good choice for a career. "Thanks. Professor Moody told me that I'd make a good one, too. I mean, he was really a death eater impersonating Moody, so maybe that was nothing. But I think I might consider it. So what else is Dumbledore up to about Voldemort?"

"I actually don't know. Like I said, I was just inducted in last night, and all I really know is you're somehow important and also that there's some guard duty involved at a couple of locations." That disappointed Harry a little bit. It would have been nice to know what's going on outside of Privet Drive, but at least he knew Dumbledore was doing something.

"Well I guess as long as he's doing something I don't have to know what it is. I just hope we can get a fast leg-up on Voldemort. He's not going to slow down, I know that much."

"I'm impressed, Harry. Not many people choose to say Voldemort's name."

He shook his head. "I don't think it's a very big deal. The whole name thing is just stupid. It gives him unnecessary power if we're all too afraid to say his name. There's no point to it."

"That's exactly what I think of it. I'm glad to meet a fellow name-sayer." She bowed at him.

"Thanks, I guess. So what's with the security warning about me? Why does Fudge think I'm a threat to security?"

"Well, Harry, I don't know if you've met Fudge, but he's not the kind of person who responds well to confrontation. He'd rather not admit that anything's wrong with the world, so he'll stick his head in the sand and throw mud on the name of whoever says that Voldemort's back and poses a threat again, namely you and Dumbledore."

"What's he done to Dumbledore? I thought he always went to him for advice and stuff when it came to running the country."

"Since Dumbledore is siding with you on the whole 'Voldemort is back' situation, Fudge isn't so keen on the man as of late. He's threatening to take away his Order of Merlin, First class and maybe even his spot as Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot. But as long as Fudge stays out of Hogwarts, I don't think Dumbledore will be fazed much by it all, and the Ministry has always let the headmaster run things at the school, so that's one thing to keep positive about."

"Wow," said Harry. "Well if there's something I can do, let Dumbledore know I want to do it. I hate my fame, but maybe I can use it to my advantage and, I don't know, make a statement or something. I mean, Voldemort's got the power of anonymity right now, and that's discomforting. If people know he's out there, they'll be more alert and maybe even more likely to fight back."

"I'll let Dumbledore know you're willing to help at the next meeting. Thanks, Harry. She looked at Harry's alarm clock. "Well, I think I have to go. There's no reason to stall anymore, since you're innocent. Just make sure you send an owl to the Ministry explaining that it wasn't you who did the magic and that you've got a house-elf to register. Send it directly to Amelia Bones, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Mafalda Hopkirk is nice, but she listens to authority and if Fudge is saying you're some psycho criminal she won't let the house-elf claim go easily. As long as you get it to Madam Bones, it should be no problem. She'll listen to reason and she's one of the few in the Ministry that Fudge won't try to push around."

"Right. I really appreciate the advice. Thanks a lot."

When she smiled, Harry smiled back and got up. They walked out of the room and down the stairs to see Dobby busy cleaning the house and Vernon eying him nervously but too scared to say anything.

They laughed, and Vernon looked over to them. Harry ignored his uncle's shouting questions about who the "pink-haired harlot" was while she flicked her wand and fixed the door, which was hanging on its hinges.

"See ya, Harry. It was nice meeting you," she said as she backed out of the threshold and down the walkway. It would have been smooth, had she not tripped and fell backwards. She jumped up as Harry let out a laugh.

"Bye, Tonks." She walked down the driveway as he watched her, careful not to let his eyes wander too low. She got to the sidewalk before tapping her wand to her hair, and then she disappeared.

Harry closed the restored door and had Dobby follow him upstairs, still ignoring Uncle Vernon. Once upstairs he wrote his letter to Madam Bones and sent Hedwig on her way.

He had tried hard not to let it show that he had a little crush on the young auror he had just met, but he wasn't sure if he was successful. He did the math and figured she was only about five or six years ahead of him, but it would still be years before his attraction to her would be considered even mildly appropriate. Still, as innocent as their short conversation had been, he couldn't shake Tonks from his mind.

He was in trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonks walked down the driveway before disillusioning herself. She stayed a little bit after disappearing, watching Harry walk back into his house and smiling. He was a cute kid, though on the scrawny side. But she could tell that little Harry had the hots for her, which made her laugh.

She apparated onto the roof of the next-door house, joining Bill. "Wotcher, Bill."

"Hey Tonks. You freaked me out down there, running into the house like that. I almost went down to help, but I figured you would have signaled me if you needed it."

"Right you are, Mister." She sat down on the roof next to where she guessed her was. "It was fine. He pulled his wand on me, but I disarmed him. The Ministry picked up on a lot of magic at the place this morning, so they sent me to take his wand, but Kingsley just told me to stall until Dumbledore figured it out. Turns out Harry hired himself a house-elf, so that's where the magic was coming from.

"Anyway, his uncle had threatened him, so the elf stunned the uncle, and that triggered the Ministry sensor again. Kingsley sent me a patronus to tell me to get in quick and stop Harry attacking his relatives. So long story short, Harry didn't do any magic, though he probably can now that he's got a house-elf, and I didn't have to wait until Dumbledore could talk Fudge down." She smiled at how things worked out, but Bill couldn't tell because they were both invisible.

"Well, I'm glad you were so lucky. If Harry had snapped, which I wouldn't blame him for after what he went through last week, he probably wouldn't stop at his aunt and uncle and would've attacked whoever came through that door. And no offense to your skill, but that kid is definitely powerful. Charlie's still raving about his first task in the Tri-Wizard last year. Kid beat a dragon and did it on a broomstick? I bet Charlie'll be raving for the rest of his life about that one."

Tonks thought about that. It really was fortunate that Harry wasn't the one attacking his uncle and hadn't snapped. He was a really powerful kid, and Tonks might not have been able to take him if he had lost control. She wondered if maybe that was the reason Privet Drive was guarded.

"So how is Charlie?"

"Other than doing Order recruiting in Romania, still there working with dragons. He's right mad for it, but he loves it. Do you still talk with him?"

She shook her head, then quickly after hitting herself for realizing again that Bill couldn't see her, said, "No. I do miss him though. It's been three years and it's still hard not having my best friend."

"Have you written him since the break-up?"

"No, I guess I should. It's just been crazy since then, with training and then just starting out as an auror, and now stuff with the Order will probably be taking up all my free time."

"Well, he's a bit too proud to write, as you can tell with the silence over the years. He really did want it to work out, Tonks, but from London to Romania is a lot of distance and sometimes those relationships don't work."

"Thanks Bill. Been having some brotherly talks about me, have you?"

Bill laughed. "That's just what brothers do. You should hear us having a go at Ron for the obvious soul mate he has in his classmate, Hermione. The only ones who can't figure out they belong together are the two of them, according to the twins at least."

Now Tonks laughed. "I miss Ron and the twins. I forgot, they're all grown up and upperclassmen at Hogwarts now. And Ginny's started now too. I'm sorry that the break-up had that affect on my relationship with your family. It was just hard at the beginning, 'cause I got reminded of him. By the time things were all healed over, it had just been too long."

"I understand. You'll have a lot of time to catch up with everyone, though, With my parents and me in the Order, you'll see a lot of us. And I think everyone might be moving from the Burrow to headquarters, so you'll see them at meetings."

"That's good. Can't wait to see everyone. So I hear you've been quite friendly with one of the next recruits to the Order, William." She nudged him playfully. "Workplace romance, huh?"

"Oh shut up, Tonks. Yeah, Fleur is something special. Beyond her beauty, she's smart, funny, and one of the most skilled witches I've ever known. I mean, the best date I've ever been on was with her, and it was a half-hour duel. She's my equal in so many ways, yet we're so different. Do I sound girly?"

Tonks laughed again, then said, "Not at all, Mr. Weasley. She sounds lovely, and I can't wait to meet her."

"Thanks, Tonks. Well I've got to get going. Speaking of dates, I'm taking Fleur to the Burrow to meet my parents tonight. Please, please, please wish me luck."

"Good luck, Bill. I'm glad I'll be able to reconnect with everyone. See ya."

And with a soft pop, she heard Bill disapparate.

Tonks conjured a chair on the roof, disillusioned it, and got comfortable for a long night of guard duty. She looked at the window that was Harry's. He appeared to have pulled up his curtains now, and was playing Wizard's chess with Dobby.

He was a very weird wizard, she had to admit. She had not known many people with house-elves, but the few that she did know certainly didn't play games with theirs. They seemed to really be friends. Harry was a good kid, and she looked forward to getting to know him. He'd been through so much so young; Tonks couldn't imagine how he'd been able to get through everything. She only hoped his luck or skill or whatever kept him alive and strong through everything. With Voldemort back, he was going to need every ounce of it.

A/N I really hope it's normal to get such bad writer's block so early in a story. It was rough getting this out but I hope you like what I ended up with. Thanks for all the hits and the few reviews. Please review more! Thanks everyone.


	3. Cold and Hot

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, but that would be cool. Not that I'm into slavery, but it would be fun. The world is JK Rowling's, strictly. I don't make any money off of this.

A/n If it isn't too much trouble, please take some time to REVIEW this story. It's good to see so many people reading this but it would be better to know your thoughts on it. Thanks!

The next few weeks flew by, with Harry getting to know Dobby better as the elf continued to do a fantastic job as his employee. Madam Bones had responded to Harry's letter about Dobby within thirty minutes, saying that she was sorry for the inconvenience. Any magic done was assumed at the Ministry to be done by Dobby, which gave Harry free reign. He had Dobby add another room to his bedroom, this one a long chamber with many targets, attack dummies, and an authentic dueling field that he had seen in a book. The majority of his time was spent in that room, constantly repeating the spells he already knew, perfecting wand movements and accuracy. He also spent a lot of time buried in his old schoolbooks, namely Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration books, trying to pick up anything that may have flown by him in the past four years.

He had Dobby send a lot of spells his way so that he could practice shields, and the elf had volunteered multiple times to also be Harry's dummy for experimenting different spells on, in order to increase authenticity, but Harry laughingly refused and insisted that authenticity be sacrificed for safety. Before three weeks had passed, Harry had perfected every single offensive and defensive spell and every charm that he could find in his schoolbooks. Transfiguration had been a bit rusty, but he was still better than he had been before.

He also owled Flourish and Blott's Bookstore for a few books, including one that showcased combat spells, which ranged from more defensive and offensive spells to mild healing and reviving charms. The book was so interesting that he had a handle on almost every spell contained in it in just a few days.

On the downside, Harry's social life had found a new low. He had Dobby to talk to, but he missed Ron and Hermione. He had written them quite often, asking about their Summers, explaining everything that had happened to him, and even inviting them over to hang out and practice their magic as well. But all that he had received were very precise responses, saying that their Summers were just 'fine', that what happened with Dobby and his Aunt were just 'very interesting', and simply dodging his invites flat-out.

When Harry introduced Dobby to his Aunt Petunia, he could tell the that site of him almost made her faint, as she turned a pale-white and Harry could have sworn that her eyes threatened to roll into her head, but she seemed to be making an effort, saying that she didn't mind as long as he stayed to Harry's room, and even went as far as to shake the elf's hand, though she washed hers thoroughly afterwards. Harry could see that his aunt was really trying to make up for the past, and though he knew she wouldn't turn into a loving relative overnight, at least she had been slightly less cold to him, and could stop Vernon from treating Harry like he was gum on his shoe.

Not that Harry had given any of his relatives much of a chance treat him badly. Now that he had everything he needed in his not-so-little bedroom, he could eat, sleep, and train in privacy; it was like having his own apartment. The only time that he came out was to try and sneak in a little time watching the news downstairs. He had wanted to find some hint at what Voldemort was up to, and the Daily Prophet wasn't reporting so much as a rainy day anymore, let alone a resurrected mass-murderer. He remembered that two years ago the muggle news had reported on his fugitive godfather, Sirius Black, so he thought that maybe he could find some strange incident that could be connected to Voldemort on there.

The only problem was that Dobby could conjure a TV, but for some reason could not figure out how to connect it to the house's cable wires, since they didn't go up to Harry's room.

This found Harry downstairs in the sitting room one very hot night, wearing his invisibility cloak and leaning against the wall, not daring to breathe any louder than half a decibel. His aunt and uncle were watching the news, which was currently reporting on the hot sales at a local mall. Harry just stared at the ceiling, waiting for some sort of strange occurrence that the muggles couldn't explain, but it never came.

Loud bangs on the stairs told Harry that Dudley was coming downstairs. "Dudley, come here, please!" said Vernon. The large boy came into the sitting room and leaned on the wall, nearly hitting Harry, who had to dodge his cousin at the last minute.

"Dudders, where are you going?" asked Petunia. Harry looked at Dudley and saw that he was dressed to go out, in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.

"Out," said Dudley simply.

"To tea at Pierce's, son?" asked Vernon. When Dudley thought about it and nodded, so did his father. "Good, good. If you see that _boy_ walking around, make sure you tell him to get straight here and come see me. Barely shown his face in weeks, he should know better than that. And if he has that _thing_ walking around the neighborhood with him and the neighbors see it, I swear to god I'll-"

"Vernon!" exclaimed Aunt Petunia.

"Well I don't want the neighbors to see that disgusting thing walking around with someone who lives here, Petunia. Dudley, you can go, have fun and don't be out too late." Dudley walked out, success written on his face after once again making his parents think he was really going out for tea. "Honestly, you've been very strange lately and I don't like it. Where do you get off defending the boy, we both know that he's overstayed his welcome here, taking full advantage of us and our good hearts."

"Good hearts? Harry has a point, Vernon. We kept him in a cupboard since he was too big for a crib! I mean if you found out that someone treated another child like that how would you react?"

"We did that because he's not just another child, he's one of _them!_" Vernon was starting to sound desperate, as if he were hard at work trying to cure Petunia of a disease.

"One of them, Vernon?" Petunia was starting at the carpet, her voice shaky. "My sister was one of them. When our parents died I thought that they had been wrong in accepting what Lily was. The one thing that we had in common was our parents, and with them gone, I saw a chance to just shut her out. Then when she died, and Harry came to us, I thought that that was my punishment. I didn't want her when I had her, and then she was gone, and all those nights when I wanted my sister back, she wasn't there, and Harry was a constant reminder, a reminder of the wrong that I had done.

"I was bitter at what he reminded me of, and that was why I let you treat Harry the way that you have, why I joined in on being cold to him, why I let Dudley growing up thinking that bullying him was okay. That ended a few weeks ago, Vernon. Since then I've been scared and confused about what I've been feeling, but not anymore. Harry is a member of this family."

"But Petun-"

"Did you not understand me?" Her head snapped up to glare at him. "Harry has been through so much out in his world, and he shouldn't have to come here every Summer to be locked up and treated like garbage. I couldn't fix things with my sister in time. I still have time to fix things with my nephew."

She got up and headed for the stairway, but to Harry's horror, Vernon had caught up with her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and slammed her against the wall of the sitting room. He spoke in a dangerously low tone. "Now listen here. You will not tell me how to treat people in this house. I'm not going to force you to beat the kid up yourself, but I will do as I please. I make the living here, I run the household, and I will beat the little shit to a pulp every night if I want to. Just because you've gone soft and think you can make it up to your freak sister by undermining me to help your freak nephew, doesn't mean -"

He was once again interrupted, this time by Petunia spitting right in his face, which he reacted to by bringing a hand back and slapping her across hers. Before she hit the ground, Harry had thrown off his invisibility cloak and pointed his wand at his uncle.

"Stupefy!" His uncle was thrown into the wall by the force of Harry's spell. He looked sickeningly at Vernon, then at Petunia. She was on the ground, touching her face in shock. "Are you alright, Aunt Petunia?"

"Y-yes, I think I'm alright." She sat up and leaned against the wall, not crying but shaking uncontrollably. Harry took a knee in front of her and held his wand to her face.

"Doloro subsidio." He could tell from the slight relief in his aunt's eyes that his pain relief spell had worked. He then turned on his uncle, saying to his whimpering aunt, "Don't worry, I won't hurt him." He pointed his wand at the fat man and said, "Ennervate."

Vernon woke with a gasp but didn't have a chance to do much more as Harry said, "Petrificus totalus," and though he was still awake and alert, he had stiffened up and was unable to move a muscle.

"Hello, Uncle. I can see you've extended your new violent streak beyond just me. And you can see that I'm able to do magic, which is quite terrible for you. Don't fret, I'm not going to hurt you physically. But you're not going unpunished. See, while you're laying there, unable to move until I release you, I'm about to send an owl to Professor Dumbledore. He's very good at taking care of things, and once I let him know that my aunt finally has a change of heart about me and wants to treat me differently, and that her reward for that was the back of your hand, I'm sure he'll find a way to get her and Dudley a nice place far away from here, and make sure that you never see them again." He stunned his uncle to knock him out once more and walked back to Petunia.

"Is-is that true? Can you really get me and Dudley away fr-from him?"

"I'm going to try. Dumbledore has proven capable in tougher situations, and even if he can't, I've got a ton of money in the bank from my parents. I can convert some of it to muggle money, and you and Dudley can be out of here tonight. I'm not gonna let him lay a hand on you again, Aunt Petunia. Thank you."

She smiled at him, and Harry tried to search his memory for when she had ever done that, but came up empty. He tried to smile back, but suddenly felt a terrible wave of cold. Along with it came horrible memories, and a woman's scream that tore through his mind. He looked at Petunia and saw that she was feeling the same thing, though instead of seeing a look of fear for the unknown on her face, Harry saw a look of fear for something that she had been dreading her whole life, and was now experiencing.

She asked in a shaky voice, "Dementors?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before the red light lit up the Dursleys' front window, Tonks' eyes had nearly sealed shut. If it had happened just five seconds later, she would have fallen asleep and never noticed, but once she did, she shot up off the conjured chair and forced her eyes open.

Was this Dobby again? The last time a stunner was fired in the Dursleys' sitting room, that house elf had been the culprit, just to show Harry's uncle who was boss, but Tonks had a bad feeling that whatever was going on in the house wasn't anything good. She contemplated sending a message to the Order, but decided to wait until she knew what was happening.

With a soft crack she disappeared and reappeared on the driveway of Number 4 and started to run towards the door when she felt it. Cold. Cold and fear, like she had no chance of ever being happy. She had dropped to her knees, but she needed to get to the door. 'Get back up. Just a few steps.'

She's on the Hogwarts Express.

'No, no, that's not where I am. I'm on Privet Drive and Harry's in trouble. I'm not far, I can get there.'

The red hair of her new friend contrasts with the black of the train seats. She can't believe that she has to introduce herself as Nymphadora to kids that she'll know for the next seven years. She decides to have Charlie call her Tonks and see if the name sticks.

'Stop it. I'm not there, this is not eleven years ago and I'm not reliving that again.'

They're eating chocolate frog cards and talking about their families. Charlie's family is huge, from his parents to his cool older brother, and his dorky younger brother, two trouble-making younger twins and two toddlers, a brother and sister.

'No, stop it, it's almost my turn to talk about my family, please, no.'

Tonks tells Charlie all about her parents, who are the best parents ever, and has no other family to talk about except her cousin Sirius, who went away four years ago. Charlie asks if she means Sirius Black, and she asks him how he knows that. Maybe Charlie has heard from him, maybe someone in his big family has contacts far away that know where he could be.

'Please. Please.'

Charlie can't believe that Tonks doesn't know about what Sirius did, and now Tonks is scared. What did her cousin do? Charlie asks if Tonks knows about You-Know-Who and the Wizarding War that ended four years ago. She tells him that she does. Charlie says that Sirius was You-Know-Who's biggest follower, and killed thirteen people the night after You-Know-Who fell.

Tonks is losing it. That can't be true. Sirius was a good man, who was training to hunt down dark wizards. He couldn't have been what Charlie said he was. But Charlie gives her a book that he'd been reading, and in it she sees the truth. Sirius was the Dark Lord's most loyal servant.

'No, he's innocent.'

He killed thirteen people that night, and laughed as he was taken away.

'I saw him before coming over here tonight, he's no more a murder than I am'

It was written there in black and white, near the end of the book. Her cousin was currently in Azkaban prison.

'He's innocent dammit. He's not in Azkaban, I saw him tonight, he's innocent! Innocent!'

"He's innocent!" She screamed as the sound cut through the night air. Damn. There were dementors near. She hated those things. She was able to take one down on her final auror exam, but there must have been multiple near her just then. It was lucky that they had suddenly moved on. She sprinted to the door, afraid that they'd come back.

Blasting it open once again, she ran through the front door, tripping over something large on the floor. After getting back up, she saw that it was Harry's uncle, stunned and out cold. Then she saw Harry and his aunt looking up at her, bewildered.

"It feels like the dementors are gone. What happened here?"

But Harry ignored her question. "I don't like that they're gone, it means they've found something else to feed on." Then a look of terror flooded the boy's face. "Dudley." His aunt's face then matched his. "Tonks, my cousin's out there, and I'm guessing the dementors have found him. Shit!" He punched a wall then paced around the house entrance, thinking hard.

Then Harry stopped and yelled, "Dobby!" A crack later and the house elf was in front of Harry. "Dobby, my cousin's out in the neighborhood and so are a bunch of dementors. Can you do a patronus charm?"

The elf looked nervous. "No, Harry Potter. The patronus charm is one of the seventy two spells that only wizards is able to cast, sir. Dobby cannot conjure a patronus, sir."

"Okay, Dobby. Can you just find Dudley and bring him back here?"

Dobby disappeared with another crack. And then they waited. Tonks asked, "Harry, can you tell me what -"

"Not now Tonks, please. Let's just wait for Dobby to get back. I need to know that everyone's safe." Tonks nodded and sat in silence while Harry continued pacing and his aunt looked lost, rocking back and forth, not knowing what to do.

Tonks had expected that moments like this would be in store when she joined the Order, but it was still a little overwhelming. Dementors, the threat of a kid being attacked, and waiting, waiting for something to happen, hating not knowing. She had no choice but to wait for the elf with Harry; neither of them could run around the neighborhood just looking for dementors. She didn't have the strength to take on that many once she found them, and she would have been surprised if Harry was able to.

To think that up to this point, she thought that the Order was boring work. For the past few weeks the only thing that she had done was guard duty on the same roof, watching nothing happen. The only interesting things that occurred were when other members of the Order showed up to relieve her, because she could at least have a few minutes of human interaction.

She had spent more and more time at Headquarters, doing a lot of catching up with not only Sirius but with all of the Weasleys, who were all moved into Grimmauld Place. She had gotten along most with the twins, who were trouble-makers in Hogwarts like she had been. She was very amused when they met Sirius, and after having to be told that the man wasn't a murdering Death Eater, devoted themselves fully to him and Remus, calling them marauders for some reason. She sat with the four of them a lot and they all exchanged their all-time favorite pranks.

Tonks had gotten to know Remus better, too. She couldn't imagine going through life with what he had to deal with, or dealing with everybody treating him like a pariah and a monster when in reality he was quite the charmer, albeit a little shy. Sirius took to teasing the two of them whenever they had been alone for longer than two seconds, something that Tonks played along with and that Remus got quite flushed about.

"Dammit!" Harry said, snapping Tonks back to reality. "Dobby's taken too long, I don't like this. We've got to go out there." He walked towards the doorway and past Tonks, who knew that it was probably better not to get in his way at the moment. She looked at her watch and saw that Harry was right: the elf had left nearly ten minutes ago.

When they were outside, Harry pointed his wand at his bedroom window and yelled, "Accio Firebolt!" The broom broke through the window and made a bee-line for his outstretched hand. He told his aunt to stay back in the house and Tonks to get on the broomstick with him.

Tonks barely had a second to marvel in the fact that there was a real firebolt in front of her. She ran to it and jumped on the back, putting her arms around Harry. She would have made some sort of joke about their position had two souls not been in danger.

The firebolt zoomed into the air and Harry stopped it to hover fifty yards above the ground. "We'll be able to find them from up here. Hopefully they can't affect us so high when they're on the ground. I've got bad memories of dementors on a broomstick." That sounded exciting. Tonks would have to ask him about that when they were in a more leisurely setting.

After just a minute of looking, Tonks spotting a commotion just a few blocks from Number 4. Four black figures were surrounding two things down below, one very large and the other very small. Harry got a little lower, than took his wand back out and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Expecto Patronum!"

Tonks was startled as the force from Harry's spell moved the whole broom back a little bit. A silver deer-looking thing had emerged from Harry's wand and was now charging on the dementors below. Harry followed right on the patronus' tail to use the blinding light as a shield. When they were low enough, Tonks cried, "I can apparate them both back to the house!" and jumped off as Harry followed his patronus to drive the dementors away. They hissed at the creature of light and were forced to retreat from the neighborhood.

She ran to the elf, picked him up and carried him over to Harry's cousin. Taking one of each of their hands, she turned on the spot and found herself back outside Number 4 with Harry's aunt running out of the house, tears streaming down her face. "Is he alright? Dudley, Dudley, sweetie are you okay?"

Dobby was staring blankly at the ground, and Dudley at midair. Both looked like they were going to be sick. Tonks had never seen anyone without their soul, but she'd been partnered with someone who was greatly affected by dementors in training, and the teenager and elf resembled the symptoms. "Mrs. Dursley, do you have any chocolate in the house?" Tonks asked hurriedly. When the woman looked confused, Tonks had to clarify. "It'll help them, please do you have any?" Petunia nodded and started to run back to the house, but a box of chocolate bars had came zooming through the open front doorway as Tonks summoned it. "Please, take some of it and make sure he eats a lot." She handed the woman a few bars and took one out for Dobby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After making sure that no dementors came back to the neighborhood, Harry flew back to Number 4 as fast as he could. He found Tonks and Aunt Petunia feeding chocolate to Dobby and Dudley. He had cursed himself a few minutes earlier for not telling Tonks about the chocolate, but she was an auror, of course she knew about that sort of thing.

He landed and ran to them. "How are they?"

"They just need a lot of chocolate," said Tonks. She continued, "Luckily nobody was kissed, but they did get a lot of exposure. How are you? That was the brightest patronus I've ever seen, Harry. It must have taken a lot out of you."

"I'm fine," said Harry, though he was far from it. He tried to steady his stance as he felt very wobbly, craving some of the chocolate to recover but knowing that the two laying before him needed it more. He leaned on his broomstick for balance.

"Harry, as someone who is no stranger to clumsiness, you really do look like you're going to topple over. Here," and she handed him half of a chocolate bar. "There's a lot here."

He reluctantly took it from her. "Thanks. Can they, I don't know, talk or anything?"

"Dudley will probably be like this for an hour or so. He can likely understand us but his motor skills will be low. I think I read somewhere that elves recover a lot faster than wizards when it comes to loads of things, but I'm not sure if dementor attacks are included. Oh, look, I think he's coming around."

Dobby's eyes, once fixed on a spot on the ground, were starting to move around and adjust to the scene in front of him. Then he was able to turn his head and look around, then he spoke, "Harry...Harry Potter!" He jumped up, as though he had never been attacked, the only sign of it being that he was not sporting his usual grin. "Dobby could not fulfill Harry Potter's request, sir. Dobby was overcome by the dementors. Harry Potter can fire Dobby, Dobby will understand, sir." His voice cracked near the end.

"Are you mad, Dobby? You put yourself in danger to save my cousin. We may not be fond of each other, but I didn't want him to get hurt. You did everything in your power, Dobby. Thank you." Harry leaned down to shake Dobby's hand.

Before Harry could ask Aunt Petunia how she was holding up, an owl came flying towards them, dropping a letter into Harry's outstretched hand. "Oh, bloody hell!" he cried as he saw that it was from the Ministry. "What do they want now?" He opened wondering why Tonks was looking so gravely at the letter. Then he read it and understood what she understood.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We have received intelligence that a Patronus Charm was performed earlier tonight nearby your place of residence. As the Patronus Charm is one of the seventy two spells that house-elves are incapable of casting, we can deduce that a wizard has produced it. Furthermore, as you are the only wizard currently living anywhere near the location at which the charm was produced, we are assuming that it was you who cast the spell. The Ministry has once again decided to expel you from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At the Minister of Magic's request, you will also be taken in for questioning and held in captivity for your blatant disregard for Wizarding law. An auror will be sent to Number 4, Privet Drive to snap your wand and take you into custody.

Sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Harry looked at the letter in shock. This wasn't like before, when he had found out that he could just inform the Ministry of Dobby's magic use. He couldn't get out of this one. He read the letter twice more before giving it to Tonks, who grunted in shock and anger.

"Expelled? Snapped? Held in captivity? Blatant disregard for Wizarding Law? It was bloody underage magic and you were saving your cousin and your house-elf!" Tonks crumpled the letter up and threw it on the ground. "Don't worry, Harry, we'll get this straightened out. That's the most unprofessional letter I've ever read; it sounds like Fudge wrote that himself! Expelled and arrested for one bleeding spell, what have things come to?"

But Harry was in a haze. He was going to be expelled, unable to go back to his one true home. Should he flee? He could probably jump on the firebolt and never look back. Then a silvery-bright lynx ran up the street towards them and stopped at Tonks. It spoke in a deep, clear voice. "Figg's fireplace. Now."

Harry was confused beyond measure. "Why did that patronus just talk? And surely it didn't mean Mrs. Figg, our neighbor?"

Tonks thought for a second before asking Petunia to help Dudley stand and walk, then motioning for all four of them to follow her one house over to a place Harry despised. He'd always go to Mrs. Figg's place when the Dursleys had gone out and didn't want to leave him alone in the house. She was beyond nasty to him and he only hated Number 4 slightly more than her house when growing up. But what did she have to do with all of this? Was she a witch somehow?

Tonks knocked on the old door, and dust flew off of it from lack of use. It creaked open to show the elderly woman trying to hold her cats back from the door. "Tonks, dear, I think there are demen-" Then she saw Harry, Petunia, and Dudley and looked back to Tonks, confused.

"Sorry, Mrs. Figg, we need to get in and speak to Kingsley, it's an emergency. The dementors are gone, though." The woman let them in, looking nervous.

"Mrs. Figg, what's going on?" asked Petunia, her first words since Dudley had come back. She helped him to the couch in the sitting room. "How are you connected in all of this?"

Mrs. Figg sighed. "I guess my cover's blown," she said as Tonks walked over to the fireplace. "I've was placed here by Dumbledore when you came to Privet Drive, Harry. I was supposed to keep an eye on you."

"But, you were horrible to me! No offense," Harry said, not wanting to get on the bad side of someone who was apparently now in league with both Tonks and Dumbledore.

"Well, your family weren't very well likely to let you over if you enjoyed yourself, now would they have?" She looked to Petunia, who looked down shamefully and shook her head. "There you are. I'm very sorry but I had to do what I had to do."

"This is all too crazy," said Harry, sitting on the sofa next to Aunt Petunia with his elbows leaning on his knees and hands in his hair.

"It's about to get crazier, Harry," Tonks said as she threw some powder into the fireplace and said, "Kingsley Shacklebolt's office, Ministry of Magic, London!"

Then she stuck her head into the fireplace. Harry sat for what seemed like forever in awkward silence with Aunt Petunia, Dudley, Mrs. Figg, and Dobby. His elf was eying one of the many cats in the house, which was watching him carefully.

"So, you're a witch?" he asked Mrs. Figg, unsure about what to say when Tonks was in the fireplace.

"A squib, dear." At the confused stairs of the three people on the couch, though Dudley's stare had been due to his attack, she explained. "The opposite of a muggle-born. My parents were both magical and I, well, wasn't. I can't do magic at all," she said, smirking and looking at the coffee table.

"Did you have magical siblings?" asked Petunia, to Harry's shock. Why was his aunt asking anything about magic?

Mrs. Figg, equally surprised, said, "Yes, two brothers. Both Hufflepuffs at Hogwarts."

"It's hard, isn't it? Being so close to magic and not being able to...to join in?"

Mrs. Figg looked thoughtful, then nodded. She seemed to see Petunia in a different light. It was weird because Harry had never known Mrs. Figg to see anyone in any light except a grumpy one. "Yes, yes. I even tried writing Dumbledore to accept me to Hogwarts when I was eleven. I thought if I could just be taught, I'd be able to do it too."

Petunia looked very uncomfortable at this and just continued stroking Dudley's hair, as she'd been doing since they arrived.

Then Tonks backed out of the fireplace, dusting ash off of her hair. "Make sure you keep back," she said. Green flames erupted in the fireplace and out walked Albus Dumbledore with Remus Lupin and a tall bald black man.

"Good evening, everyone," Dumbledore said. "Let us get introductions out of the way. "Arabella, you know everybody present, as do you, Nymphadora." Harry wondered who Dumbledore was talking about, but understood immediately as he saw Tonks grimace at the name Nymphadora. He choked back a laugh.

"Harry, you know Remus Lupin, but your aunt and cousin do not." Lupin waved to the room. "This is Kingsley Shacklebolt, a very outstanding auror if I may say so myself. And of course, you two are Petunia and Dudley Dursley," Dumbledore said with a smile, introducing the two men to Harry's family.

"Hello Professor Dumbledore, Professor Lupin," Harry raised his hand to greet his headmaster and old teacher. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Shacklebolt." He got up and shook the man's hand.

"Please, call me Kingsley."

"Busy night, Harry?" With introductions aside, it looked like Dumbledore was ready to get to business.

"You could say that."

"What happened?"

Harry sighed. "My aunt and I were in the sitting room when we felt it. The cold feeling that came with dementors. It was a few minutes before the feeling went away, and then Tonks rushed in. It looked like she had felt it too. I realized that Dudley was out in the neighborhood, and got a hunch that he'd attracted the dementors away from us. I sent Dobby to try and find Dudley, but after ten minutes neither of them came back. Tonks and I jumped on my firebolt and searched for them. When we found them, they were both surrounded by the dementors. I drove them out of the neighborhood with a patronus and Tonks apparated Dobby and Dudley back to Number 4. Then I got the letter from the Ministry, and well, here we are."

Dumbledore just nodded and thought for a second. "Well, Harry, it would seem that you cast that patronus charm in order to save two souls in danger of being taken. Since the Minister went straight to the auror office without consulting Madam Bones, she wasn't able to talk him down, so he still ordered Kingsley to send an auror to arrest you. Luckily, the selected auror is, of course, Nymphadora here." He gestured to Tonks, who nodded.

"We shall come up with a story for the rest of the night after we have moved you to Headquarters, Harry. I wasn't planning this until next week, but it seems that now is the best time. We shall be leaving in about ten minutes, so if you would take your family back to their house and collect your things, we can move along." The old man smiled at Harry, and continued to smile when Harry didn't move. "Something bothering you, Harry?"

Of course something was bothering him. Now that Harry had been able to think, why _was _Tonks here tonight, bursting through the door? Where was Headquarters? And Headquarters of what, for that matter? "Well, Professor, I think I'd like to know what Tonks doing here, and what you mean by Headquarters, but I can ask that later. I had something to talk to you about. You see, my aunt's changed lately, and has been trying to stop my uncle from beating me again."

"He did what?" interrupted Lupin. "Albus, if Harry is being -"

"I think Harry is getting to his point, Remus." He held his hand out to Harry, signaling him to continue.

"Thanks, professor. Well, tonight my aunt stood up to him and told him that I would have to be treated fairly, and he, well, slapped her around. I used magic to get him away from her, which didn't alert the ministry since I have Dobby registered as my house elf. He's stunned and paralyzed back at Number 4." He hoped that admitting this in front of two aurors hadn't been a mistake, but since they were in Dumbledore's circle he thought he'd take a chance.

"That was noble of you, Harry. As you said, the Ministry will not know about that, and the five of us will not divulge it to anyone," said Dumbledore. "And is there something else on the matter before we depart?"

"I don't want them around Vernon, sir. I want to move Petunia and Dudley away from him so that he can't do put his hands on anyone again."

This made Dumbledore look at Harry appraisingly. "Would you care to come outside with me Harry, as well as Nymphadora, Remus, and Kingsley?" He started out of the sitting room, leading the three people out to the neighborhood. The heat had returned, and it felt like the dementors had never came.

"Harry," Dumbledore started. "Allow me to begin by apologizing for what you've been through this Summer and your whole childhood. Nobody deserves to be treated the way that you have, and I am sorry that I arranged to have you here every Summer. That said, I regret that you must continue to resume staying here over two more Summers, and your aunt and uncle must also both call the house home."

"What? Why?" asked Harry. "I'm sorry but that's not how this is supposed to work. My uncle is a terrible human being and I won't have him around Petunia or Dudley any longer, sir."

"We can arrange to have their memory altered so that the past few weeks will have never happened. Any violent part of your uncle's mind can be erased and they can be happy, Harry."

"With all due respect sir, that's sick." He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Erasing his memory won't do anything. The urge to hit, to kick, to push around and slap will come back, Dumbledore, and a memory charm won't fix it. Besides, my aunt's finally coming around and is willing to work things out with me. Why would I want that erased?"

"There are things you don't understand, very important magic at work, and it depends on your aunt's family being intact, the house in living order, and you calling it home for a few weeks a year. If we separate the family, it could have drastic consequences for you."

"In case you haven't noticed, sir, I haven't been very concerned with what might happen to me over the years. I don't know what kind of magic you've got going on at the house, but I don't want that pathetic excuse for a man anywhere near my family."

Dumbledore just studied Harry for a second. "This is very sudden, Harry. Last Summer I doubt that they were anything but a nuisance and a yearly punishment to you, and yet now they are your family again."

This made Harry mad. "Listen to yourself! You're looking for excuses to knowingly put a woman and her son in harm's way! What is wrong with you?"

"Harry," started Lupin, but Dumbledore held a hand up.

"It's ok, Remus. Please, Nymphadora, Kingsley and you should go into the house. I need to tell Harry something." The three left the headmaster and student facing each other, at odds for the first time in their four-year friendship. Harry saw Tonks look back at the two of them, betrayed by a look of nervousness before going inside.

"Harry, there is something that you need to know regarding your relatives' house. When your mother sacrificed herself for you, she created a powerful protection around you that destroyed Voldemort when he tried to kill you. Before you were brought here, I made sure that Number 4, Privet Drive had that same protection, by casting a very ancient spell over it. As long as you call that place home, the blood running through your aunt's veins, the same blood that ran through your mother's veins, will protect you from Voldemort. The spell has necessities, however. For instance, you must be underage. Once you turn 17, the wards will disappear. Also, you must call Number 4 your home, and you must have the bare minimum for living conditions. Lastly, Petunia's own family must be a strong, united group. It is essential that we keep the three of them living together and getting along, or your mother will have died in vein."

Harry looked at the old man incredulously. How dare he try to manipulate his mother's death in order to get Petunia to stay with that pig in the house? But Harry had something planned, and though it was probably the stupidest thing he could think of doing, it also seemed the best and quickest way to achieve his goals. He allowed his anger to subside, focusing clearly on his plan, putting everything else on his mind on the back burner. He then saw Dumbledore's eyes twinkle slightly, as they did occasionally during their talks, but then they did something that Harry had never seen them do after one of those twinkles: they blinked. Then Dumbledore looked a bit surprised, but continued on.

"Harry, I am sorry that this is the way it must be, but sometimes we must choose between what is right, and what is-"

"Easy, I know, Professor. You've used that one before."

The headmaster chuckled. "Nice catch, Harry. It's one of my favorites."

Harry put on a fake smile. He then walked back into Mrs. Figg's house, without another word to Dumbledore. He found Tonks, Kingsley, Lupin, Mrs. Figg, and Dobby in the sitting room, and asked where Petunia and Dudley were. He was pointed to the kitchen, where his aunt and cousin were sitting at at table, their backs to the doorway that Harry stood in.

"He _hit_ you?" said the shocked voice of Dudley. Apparently he had recovered enough to be capable of speech, and to Harry's surprise, what resembled caring anger.

"Y-yes, Dudley. As you saw a few weeks ago, your father has found a sort of affection for beating, and well, tonight he thought he could do it to me. Harry saved me from him." Harry could only see his aunt's back, but he could hear the surprising tone of love in her voice, something that he had only heard in the voice of Mrs. Weasley.

"He saved me too. When I was out, I started to just feel...cold. And I wasn't out in the neighborhood anymore. I mean, I was in the neighborhood, but not where I knew I really was. It was like I was watching myself, over the years. Everything I've done, mum, to younger kids, to my lesser friends, to Harry especially, was replayed, and I saw what it looked like from the outside, from a bystander. Then it got worse. I started watching it all from Harry's point of view, from how all those little kids saw it. I looked up at myself, beating me up, taking my money and beating me up again.

"Then a bright light was all I could see, and for a split second I thought I was dying, and I wanted it." Petunia whimpered and grabbed Dudley's hand, tears welling up in her eyes. "Death seemed more welcoming than what I was witnessing, than knowing what I had done. I just wanted it to go away, mum. I just wanted it to go away." Petunia started sobbing.

"The light started to made me feel warmer. I stopped getting beaten up by myself and then the knowledge that I knew I'd been wrong and that I was going to do better, I don't know, it just brought me back. I opened my eyes and I saw Harry zooming by, and he was controlling all that light. A hand gripped mine and then I felt like I'd been squeezed into and out of a toothpaste tube, and I was back at the house, with you and some lady with pink hair. When I saw you, I, I wanted to just tell you how much I loved you and how sorry I was, and I wanted to find Harry and shake his hand, but I couldn't. Those feelings had done something to my body. It's a little better now, but I think I still feel a little bit of it."

"You need to eat some more chocolate," said Harry, who decided to make his presence known at that point. They turned to see him, and looked shocked. Harry walked over to his cousin and when Dudley started to speak, he just said, "It's okay, Dudley. I know." He shook his hand, then for the first time in his life, turned around and gave his aunt a hug, one of the biggest hugs he had ever given.

"Aunt Petunia," He said after a few minutes of family embraces. "Is there anything in the house that's not replaceable? Something important to you?" She told him about a box in the attic that contained everything from her parents and from Lily. That was the only thing that she could think of, even when Harry told her that this was extremely important. He asked Dudley the same question, and he thought for a minute before telling Harry that he couldn't think of anything irreplaceable. Harry nodded at both of them, then sighed and left the room.

He passed through the sitting room, paying no mind to any of the adults inside, even when Dumbledore called his name to ask where he was going. Once outside, Harry went straight to Number 4, stepping over his uncle and making his way upstairs to the attic. It took a while, but he finally found the box full of treasures from his grandparents and mother. It took a lot of strength to put off looking at everything inside until later. He grabbed the box and went down to his room, packing up his trunk with everything that he owned. He placed the box and Hedwig's cage on top of the trunk, then called Dobby, who apparated it all back to Mrs. Figg's.

Harry walked back downstairs, and almost got to the door before turning around and heading for a cupboard under the stairs. He looked down at his old room, then kneeled down and opened the door. He looked into it, and was surprised that he had ever fit in there.

Walking to the kitchen, he grabbed a salt shaker and pointed his wand to it. "Fragorus contengo." The shaker glowed red before returning to its normal state. He then set it on the kitchen table. He went to the sitting room and grabbed a pillow, repeating the spell and placing the pillow in his cupboard. Back up in his room, an old alarm clock was also made to glow red.

Harry exited the house and walked back to Mrs. Figg's. Dumbledore was standing at the top of the driveway, waiting for Harry. He said, "I see you had Dobby bring your things over, Harry. Shall we proceed with getting your family back into Number 4 and leaving for where you're staying until school?"

"I don't think so, Professor."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Dumbledore asked in a cautious tone, a look a nervousness on his face.

"I can't let them back in there with that man. If the only thing keeping my aunt and cousin from being free of him is your protective wards, then I'm going to have to break those wards."

"Harry, what are you planning on doing?"

"I can't just turn 17, so that's out of the question. The whole family breaking up thing is what you want to keep from happening. I don't call it home anymore, but since that's a very thin line, it's not a very secure way to undo the protection. So, there's only one thing to do, make it uninhabitable." He pointed at the house and said, "Accio Vernon."

The fat man flew out of the blasted open door and over to the two of them on Mrs. Figg's driveway. Harry then turned to fully face Number 4. This was it for the house, his own little circle of hell. The contained-blast spells on the salt shaker, pillow and alarm clock were set and waiting for his detonation. He asked Dumbledore, "Any chance you want to agree to put Petunia and Dudley elsewhere, Professor?"

"You know I'm not going to do that. And you are planning what I think you're planning -"

"Displodo!"

Three deafening explosions simultaneously shook the air of the neighborhood as Number 4, Privet Drive exploded into shreds. It took mere seconds for the entire house to fall into ruins, while the two houses on either side of it stayed untouched. Harry felt slightly poetic as he watched his troubled childhood burn to the ground, and basked in the glow of his Privet-less and Vernon-less future. He turned around to see Dumbledore dumbstruck at the wreckage. His voice was shaky when he said, "Harry..."

"Well, Professor, if the death eaters are going to be able to attack the house now, we should probably go." He said. "All of us."

He walked back into Mrs. Figg's, followed by a pale Dumbledore, levitating Vernon behind him, as neighbors started coming out to see what happened.


	4. The Smoke Clears

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, but that would be cool. Not that I'm into slavery, but it would be fun. The world is JK Rowling's, strictly. I don't make any money off of this.

A/n Sorry for the huge gap between updates! Last chapter was heavily Harry, so this one is heavily Tonks. Hope you like it!

Tonks followed Remus and Kingsley back into Mrs. Figg's house, worried about Harry. Apparently, he had made quick amends with his only blood relatives, and yet his wishes to keep them safe were currently being debated over. When they arrived in the sitting room, Mrs. Figg was sitting in silence on the sofa, while Dobby was on the other side of the room, still eying a cat suspiciously.

"Where are the Dursley's?" she asked Mrs. Figg, who told Tonks that the two muggles were talking in the kitchen. She nodded and took a seat on a chair while Kingsley and Remus remained standing. They all stayed silent for a little while, the only sound being the muffled voices from Petunia and Dudley Dursely from the kitchen.

"So that was Potter," said Kingsley after a minute. "He's a lot scrawnier in person."

Remus smiled. "Don't let that fool you, Kingsley. Harry's one of the strongest wizards of his age. He was only thirteen when I taught him how to cast a patronus, and by the end of that year he could cast a corporeal one. Saved Sirius from about a hundred dementors then, is what I heard," the werewolf said proudly.

"A hundred?" Kingsley said in shock. "Some of the most powerful Wizards can barely take down a few. Pretty impressive."

Tonks chimed in. "You should hear the other things he's apparently done, Kingsley. The kid's been through more than a lot of us in the Order combined."

Harry came back into the house without Dumbledore. Tonks had tried to smile at him reassuringly but he seemed extremely introverted, only asking where his aunt and cousin were before leaving to find them in the kitchen. Dumbledore followed moments after Harry had left for the kitchen.

"What's the plan, Albus? Are we putting leaving the Dursleys here or is Harry still adamant about moving them?" asked Remus.

Dumbledore took a second to answer. "I don't know. What I do know is that Harry has far exceeded my expectations yet again. During our little disagreement, I attempted legilimency to find some way to satisfy him while still keeping him safe from Voldemort."

"Legilimency?" Remus's eyes narrowed. Tonks knew that he had taught Harry a few years ago, and that he was one of the Potters' closest friends before they died, so she expected this protectiveness from him. "Albus, you broke into Harry's mind?"

"I tried, Remus. And yet, it seems that our young Mr. Potter unwittingly employed occlumency. He shut his emotions down completely, and let me assure you that for Harry that is quite a feat, and as a result I was knocked out of his mind almost immediately. Mind you, I didn't put forth the biggest effort, but it came as quite a shock."

Tonks tried to look objective, but it sure was difficult. How dare he break into a person's mind like that, someone that's on their side and is looking like he'll be able to provide extremely substantial help to the Order in a few years? But she was also as impressed as Dumbledore was. From what she knew, the old man was one of the most accomplished legilimens in the world, so putting up a mental defense that could withstand Dumbledore was a huge feat, and according to the headmaster himself, it sounded like Harry wasn't even trying.

For a few seconds it was silent, as everyone in the room took into the shock, both of Dumbledore's nerve of intruding into Harry's mind and Harry's ability to block him.

"How many people have forced you out of legilimency, Albus?" asked Kingsley.

"Just a few. But only one as young as Harry is now." Tonks and the rest of the room waited for the identity of the person, though they all had an idea. "A sixteen year old Tom Riddle."

As Harry walked out of the kitchen, Dumbledore tried to get his attention, but to no avail. Harry left the room as quickly as he had arrived. Though there was a lot to be said between the Order members in the sitting room, a lot to be planned, they all resorted to silence for a few minutes. Dumbledore seemed exhausted, his many years showing themselves on his face.

The silence was interrupted by a crack as Dobby disappeared from the room, then a few minutes later he reappeared with a school trunk, owl cage, and an old box. Dumbledore smiled, though it was a faint one. "It looks as if Harry is agreeing to come with us. I'll go outside to fetch him."

He took off out of the house, leaving Tonks with Mrs. Figg, Dobby, Remus and Kingsley once again. She immediately started to talk to Remus. "What do you think of this, Remus? Doesn't Harry kind of have a point?"

"I definitely do think he has a point. That man deserves a lot more than a slap on the wrist and a wiped memory. And I really don't think that Dumbledore was right to force his way into Harry's mind. Just because he's able to do things like that, it doesn't mean he was a right to. I'm glad Harry's mind was strong enough to defend itself."

"Shouldn't we let Dumbledore know that we disagree with this, though? I mean, none of this seems right."

"I know that this whole situation is confusing and frustrating to us, but still Tonks, we must trust Dumbledore. If this all means that Harry will stay protected as Dumbledore says, we have to follow Albus in his wishes, even if we can't see his reasoning."

Kingsley spoke up. "This whole thing is inevitably going to explode into a war, Tonks. Sometimes in war the soldiers get orders which they can't seem to make sense of, but following them is crucial for the grand scheme of things."

'That's easy for Dumbledore, but for soldiers like us? I don't like this,' thought Tonks.

Then her thoughts were interrupted by the roar of a huge explosion that sounded like it was coming from next door, yet nothing moved in the house they were in. The three Order members drew their wands and hurried towards the door, but they didn't even make it out of the sitting room before Harry came in, looking strange. He was shaking very slightly as he crossed the sitting room into the kitchen and asked his family to join them in the sitting room.

Dumbledore followed behind Harry, levitating the boy's uncle with him. If the Headmaster looked exhausted before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. He had lost all color, and he was visibly shaking. When everyone had reunited in the sitting room, Kingsley asked the obvious question, "What happened, Albus?"

"Not here, Kingsley." It was the shakiest that Tonks had ever heard the man speak. Then Dumbledore straightened up, and with what looked like a huge effort, began to gain some of his usual composure. With a just stronger yet still slightly shaky voice, he continued. "Kingsley, Remus, you will stay here and await backup. When it arrives, you will be assisting in the neighborhood, getting muggles back into their houses and keeping an eye out for suspicious arrivals. Nymphadora, Harry, Dobby, Arabella, and the Dursleys will be coming with me to headquarters.

He let Harry's owl out of its cage and let her fly out of the window, then flicked his wand and, once Harry's trunk, box, and owl's cage were shrunken, told the boy, "You can pocket your things, Harry. Hedwig will find you." He then walked to the sitting room table. Grabbing a long-stemmed flower from a vase he tapped it with his wand, saying "Portus." The flower glowed blue, then returned to normal. "We cannot take the floo network, as not all of us are magical and as only three of us know where Headquarters is. When three of us are touching the portkey, we will be transported there. Arabella, you will go with Dobby. Dobby, you will apparate to Grimmauld Place in London after we have left. Now, Harry if you'll grab hold of your cousin's hand with one hand and the flower with the other." He did so. For some reason Harry looked at peace, like whatever the explosion was outside had been good, and not the emergency situation that Dumbledore was treating it with.

"Nymphadora, you can grab hold of Vernon, but don't grab the flower yet. Petunia, if you'll grab firm hold of my hand. Very good." He then looked at Tonks and nodded his head, letting her know she could go ahead.

With a firm grip on the unconscious man's shirt, Tonks touched the flower, activating the portkey. The tug brought them all to the now familiar neighborhood in London. Dudley and Tonks fell hard, with Vernon landing on his face. Harry looked like he was going to stay on his feet, but he was pulled down by Dudley. Petunia stumbled, but was steadied by the perfectly-landing Dumbledore, who got right to work with a small device, which sucked the light from all of the lamps illuminating the neighborhood. A crack told Tonks that Dobby and Mrs. Figg had arrived, as well.

Dumbledore walked over to Vernon, pointed his wand at the man, and said,  
"Ennervate." As his eyes opened, Vernon suddenly looked furious and was about to sit up when Dumbledore pointed his wand at him again, "Confundo."

The fat man then put on a blank stare and laid back down. "That should suffice," said Dumbledore. "Now, Harry, Petunia, Dudley, Dobby, and Vernon please listen to what I say. The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is at Number 12, Grimmauld Place."

Tonks watched wonder in everyone's faces except Vernon's. To her, the house had been there for weeks, but to them, it had just pushed Numbers 11 and 13 out of the way. "On we go," said Dumbledore, and the big group headed for the door. Dumbledore stunned Vernon once again and levitated the body in front of him, reminding Tonks of her first night at Number 12, with Mundungus and Mad-Eye.

They stopped at the door. Dumbledore continued his instructions. "Nymphadora, if you will please get the door." Tonks obeyed, and moved to the front of the group before tapping her wand to the door. The multiple locks that had been installed in the past few weeks were unlocking themselves, and after about ten seconds the door opened.

She held a finger to her lips and whispered to everyone behind her. "Keep quiet." It took every fiber of her being to stay upright and not knock into anything on the way in. After Dumbledore levitated Vernon inside and stepped in himself, he let the man drop on the sitting room couch and waved his wand in front of the door. All of the locks secured themselves back again.

Mrs. Weasley appeared at the entrance to the kitchen. She went straight to Harry and didn't give him a chance to catch a breath as she squeezed him tight and whispered, "So glad to see you again, Harry. The meeting is about to start, but Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can go join them."

"Actually," said Dumbledore. "I need to speak with Harry in the kitchen before the meeting starts. Shall we adjourn there?"

Confused, Molly nodded and led the big group to the kitchen. Seated at the table were Sirius, Bill, Arthur, Mundungus, Professor McGonagall, Mad-eye, Emmaline Vance, Dedalus Diggle, and Hestia Jones. Most of them smiled and made to get up to greet Harry, who was making his way towards Sirius, but Dumbledore threw silencing charms at the two doors going out of the kitchen and faced the boy first.

"Do you have any idea what you have done, Harry? For fourteen years Lord Voldemort has been unable to attack you at Number 4, as long as we kept certain parameters under control. You broke that charm tonight, and now Privet Drive is vulnerable to attack. Your mother died to protect you, Harry, and now the piece of that protection that extended to Number 4 has been destroyed. Is that what you thought your mother would want?"

"Do _not_ talk to me about my mother, Professor," Harry's anger had become very evident over the last minute of being yelled at, yet he kept his voice steady. "You tried to manipulate her memory to keep me under your control, to continue to put my family in danger of violence, and you will not do that again."

Arthur interjected. "What are you two talking about, Albus? What happened tonight? We thought there was a dementor attack on Privet Drive but what you and Harry are speaking of sounds nothing like that."

"Harry wanted to move his aunt and cousin away from Privet Drive in order to keep them away from his uncle, who has grown abusive. The strength of the Dursley family was one of the things keeping the special wards on Number 4 strong, so I could not split them up. I wanted to keep them at the house and erase the violent part of Vernon's mind so that this would not be an issue. Harry then took it upon himself to, for lack of a better phrase, blow his summer home up, in order to prevent me from keeping his family at the house."

The shock of Dumbledore's last statement spread through the kitchen. 'That was it?' thought Tonks. It was actually a pretty cool thing to do, and she had to fight back a smile. The others in the room, however, had not-so-fake expressions of surprise on their faces.

"Harry," Sirius said. "You blew up your house?"

Harry continued to look at Dumbledore. He had calmed down, and spoke very clearly. "If the house was uninhabitable, the wards would be gone, and there would be no reason to keep that bastard around my aunt and cousin. I'm sure that despite everything my mother went through with Petunia, she would have done the same thing as me. I did what I had to do, Professor. I'm sorry if that ruins things for you, but if the thing that protects me from Voldemort is putting two people in danger, then bring on Tom."

Now the entire room was looking impressed with Harry. With all eyes on the headmaster, waiting for his rebuttal, Dumbledore instead nodded to Harry and spoke to the crowd. "I need Mad-Eye, Emmaline, and Hestia to go to Mrs. Figg's home on Privet Drive and join Remus and Kingsley. They are awaiting your arrival. You can let them know what has happened, and then you will all assist in getting the muggles in the neighborhood back into their homes, and also alert the Order if there is any suspicious behavior or an attack. You will also be obliviating the muggles once I have sent you a patronus with our cover story. Thank you."

The three of them exited the kitchen through the door leading through the dining room. Dumbledore turned to Mrs. Weasley. "Molly, please escort Harry upstairs to join the other children. Dobby may accompany him if he wishes." The elf nodded immediately, and followed Molly and Harry, who was still looking shocked at Dumbledore's concession.

"We will continue our meeting with those present." Dumbledore walked over to the table and sat down, motioning for Tonks and Mrs. Figg to join him. He looked and saw that Petunia and Dudley were still standing out of the way, looking lost. "Where are my manners? Petunia, Dudley, if you can retire to the dining room, we will be out shortly. Sirius, could you escort them there and have Kreacher bring them some sandwiches and perhaps some more chocolate for Dudley?" Sirius nodded and motioned at the door to show the Dursleys out. Tonks whispered, "Be nice," to Sirius as she passed him on her way to the table and took a seat next to Bill.

She was about to ask Dumbledore about her story when Kingsley's lynx patronus once again ran up to her and spoke. "Madam Bones wants to speak with you immediately in the DMLE. Get your story straight with Dumbledore first." It disappeared and Tonks looked to Dumbledore.

"I was afraid they would get suspicious. I will have to retire to my office and get to work immediately on the cover-up," Dumbledore then proceeded to tell Tonks what she could say, what to leave out, and what part of her memory to turn over to Madam Bones, should it be requested. He turned his attention to the other Order members, apologizing and letting them know that the meeting would be postponed until the following night.

Tonks nodded once she got her story straight. She got up and exited the kitchen. Once at the door she unlocked everything, but on her way she heard yelling from the upstairs hallway that startled her and caused her to hit the bloody umbrella stand again. The painting that she now knew was her great-aunt sent screams throughout the entire house. Tonks cursed and decided it wouldn't be smart to stick around for the chastising, heading out the door and apparating to the Ministry.

The night was far from over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three teenagers sat awkwardly in a cold, dimly lit bedroom, Ron and Hermione sitting up on one bed, hands interlocked, and Harry on the other bed. He had thanked Dobby for wanting to accompany him upstairs, but asked him to go back downstairs for a little bit.

"So," Harry began, though following himself up with a long silence. He found his voice again after about thirty seconds. "You two are finally dating. Took you long enough."

"Yeah," said Ron. His thumb made small circles around Hermione's hand as he spoke. "I was kind of an idiot all last year, and I just, I don't know, decided to take charge."

"You made the first move, didn't you, Hermione?"

The girl smiled mischievously. "Well someone had to. Honestly, if I heard one more question from Ron about whether or not I was going to see Victor this Summer I was going to hurl." She leaned her head onto Ron's shoulder. Harry laughed at Ron's slightly bitter face.

"So," Ron continued the slow conversation. "You got attacked by dementors again."

"Yeah. Only four though."

Hermione smirked. "That's our Harry. Just one dementor would probably have both of our souls in a second but four's a walk in the park for you."

"Well, I kind of had a bit of a boost."

"What kind of boost?"

"It was my aunt." As the couple put on looks of confusion, he continued. "I really think she's turned around. I heard her standing up for me to my uncle and telling him that she's done letting him walk all over me, that she wants to make things right with me. That feeling, the knowledge that some family member was there for me, it was no match for any dementor."

"Oh, Harry!" said Hermione. "That's amazing. So I guess it won't be so bad if you have to return there next Summer, then?"

"Yeah, about that," answered Harry. He told them about Vernon, Dudley, Dumbledore's desire to keep them all at Number 4, and the requirements of the headmaster's blood wards. Hermione caught on to what Harry did to remove the wards, sort of.

"So you trashed the place? I must say, Harry, I think that those wards were really important if Dumbledore said they were, but I also agree that your aunt and cousin shouldn't be around your uncle if they've really come around. How bad was it? I'm sure you had to do a number on it to remove the wards. If you were kept in that cupboard all those years and they stayed strong, then you must have had to...to..." she paused, then sat up and looked at her friend suspiciously. "Harry."

"I did what I had to do, Hermione."

Ron interjected. "Am I missing something? What did you do, Harry?"

"I wasn't going to let that bastard around them anymore. Plus, now I never have to go back there again. And I've got enough money to make sure Dudley and Petunia find a place to live and can be comfortable forever."

Hermione looked like she was slightly getting it, but still also looked skeptical. Ron was still confused. "What the bloody hell happened!"

"He blew up his house, Ron. He had to make sure that it would be made incapable of providing a home to him, so he destroyed it. That way the blood wards would be broken and Dumbledore would have no reason to keep Harry's aunt and cousin at Number 4 with his uncle."

Ron face was blank for a second as he took in all that Hermione said, then turned his shocked expression to Harry. "Blimey, Harry. Just, blimey."

Harry smiled slightly. "Like I said, it was what I had to do. Nobody got hurt, and things are going to be better now. It looks like this place is well protected, albeit a bit creepy. I don't see why I can't just be kept here since Number 4's gone."

"What spell did you use?" Hermione asked.

"Three contained-blast charms." He explained the process to a fascinated Hermione, and promised her that she could take a look at his book of combat spells later. "And that reminds me. I wrote you both saying I was able to do magic at home, and I thought a bigger response than 'That's interesting, Harry' would have been in store. What was with you guys this Summer?"

"Sorry, mate," said Ron. "Dumbledore himself came to us and told us to be real short in our letters to you. The ministry's gone mental about you, plus the whole You-Know-Who-wanting-to-kill-you thing is going on, so he didn't want anyone snatching the owl and reading what was going on."

Hermione took over. "And even if we were allowed to tell you anything, there wasn't anything to tell, Harry. We've been as kept in the dark as you, but the difference is we've been made to clean every inch of this place. A lot of the stuff we have to clean is very interesting, mind you, but it does get annoying having to do chores while the Order are having top-secret meetings."

Harry nodded. "That's understandable, although I want to talk to Dumbledore about it. I do think that I deserve just a little bit of information after four dementors were sent to my doorstep."

Hermione was studying him. "You seem really calm, Harry."

"Yeah we were expecting you to blow up at us," said Ron, who was immediately punched on the arm by his girlfriend.

"What Ronald is trying to say is that you've got a lot to be angry at, and you, well, haven't reacted to it in the matter we expected."

Harry just laughed at Ron's comment. "Well I found out the lot about the Ministry when Tonks visited at the beginning of the Summer. I figured that there's really nothing I can do from my position at the moment. I wish that Fudge would admit to there being a problem so that it can be dealt with, but I've had the Summer to blow my steam off.

"Training definitely helped. I think I've got a handle on all the spells that we've learned so far, and like I told you I'm learning a lot more. Not only is it therapeutic to blow up practice dummies, but I'm starting to get more confident in my abilities, and hopefully if I keep working, I can do more than escape from Voldemort." Hermione smiled at his answer and looked immensely proud that her friend was taking a logical standpoint on the situation, while Ron, though cringing at Voldemort's name, respectfully nodded at Harry.

A crack occurred in the middle of the two beds, and Fred and George Weasley smiled at Harry. "Alright, Harry and lovebirds?", Fred started, pointing his wand at the bedroom door and making it click into a locked position. "We'll be using this room as our stronghold for the next few minutes, if it's okay with you."

Then a pounding on the door told them that their stronghold was about to be tested. "I know you're in there, you idiots!" The shouting voice of Ginny Weasley thundered through the door and filled the room. "I heard the crack _and _the click! You give me back the diary or I'll -"

But a gut-wrenching scream echoed through the house. It stopped shortly afterwards, but Harry could still hear some commotion downstairs.

Fred smirked, "That old bat is getting really annoying."

"And the painting is bad, too," crack George, pointing to his sister beyond the door. "What was it that you'll do to us, oh sister of ours?" interrupted George. "I do believe our locks will hold against your ickle not-able-to-do-magic self, so if you'll please, your shouting is interrupting our reading!" He then turned to the trio on the beds. "I must say, she's taken after our dear mother with her noise levels – Ah!"

As he started to open Ginny's diary, the small book grew teeth and eyes, bearing a striking miniature resemblance to Harry's Monster Book of Monsters from third year. As George dropped it, it started nipping at the twins' ankles. Harry, Ron and Hermione all immediately brought their legs up onto the beds, but the book had sunk its teeth into the twins twice each, and they yelped in pain.

"Let me in and I'll call it off!" Ginny yelled in a sing-songy tone. Fred pointed his wand at the door and painfully shouted, "Alohomora!" Ginny walked in slowly after the door clicked open, then walked over to her diary and stroked its spine as she picked it up.

"If they had tried that, they wouldn't have had a hand left to hold a wand with," she said to Harry with a playful chuckle and wink. She then walked over to the bed and gave him a hug that was just a second too long. "Nice to see you, Harry."

"You too, Gin. Nice to see you got a new diary."

She laughed. "Yeah, you know, dark-wizard-possessed ones were sold out at Flourish and Blott's. A monster one suffices, though." She held her smile at him.

Fred and George watched the two with narrow eyes. Fred started. "Enough with the flirtatious looks, you two. We've got enough love in this house with those two." He gestured to Ron and Hermione, who had taken advantage of the minute of distraction to snog each other. Hermione pulled away, looking embarrassed at the attention, while Ron threw his brothers a dirty look.

"If everyone is done with the flirting and loving," said a new teasing voice from the doorway. Everyone looked and saw Mrs. Weasley standing with her arms crossed, though smiling slightly. "Dinner is ready downstairs. Remember to be quiet in the hallway." She emphasized the warning, glaring at Ginny.

The twins obligingly made for the doorway, followed in succession by Ron and Hermione, then by Harry, who found Ginny walking at his side. She smiled at him as they marched on behind Ron and Hermione.

'Crap,' thought Harry. He had been thinking all Summer, not only about his crazy crush on Tonks, but also about where things would leave off with Cho Chang, whom he had fancied all last year but whose boyfriend had been killed during the final task of the tournament. Now he was getting obvious signs from Ginny, and they weren't the timid acts of nervousness that she had exhibited in years past. 'Just another thing to deal with,' he thought. 'A showdown with Voldemort is starting to seem awfully inviting at the moment.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BREAK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The silence and stillness of the empty Ministry atrium was disrupted by a crack as Tonks appeared by the Fountain of Magical Brethren. She began walking towards the lift, flicking her wand to make her auror robes appear on her. She flashed her badge to the security guard at the desk and kept walking, getting into the lift.

As the door opened and the cool female voice began its announcement of the DMLE, Tonks stepped out and continued onward towards Madam Bones' office. She was nervous because obviously the ministry had picked up on the coincidence that she had called at Number 4, Privet Drive twice and both times she found no reason to apprehend Harry Potter, but was calmed by the fact that Madam Bones listened to reason and would see that Tonks had no reason to arrest him or take his wand.

She knocked on Madam Bones' door. An annoyed-sounding Madam Bones said "Come in," and when Tonks walked in she could guess the source of the annoyance. Standing by the DMLE head's desk was a woman who Tonks had only seen from afar but was infamous around the Ministry for her nastily proper behavior and constant rule-enforcing, no matter how ridiculous. Her square face and squat figure combined with a hideously green outfit made Tonks not want to step any closer to her for fear of being caught with her tongue like a fly. She put forth as much effort as she could, however, to keep walking to the front of the desk, straight faced and looking forward. She sat down and looked up at the only respectable one of the two women across the desk. Her horrible companion had a clipboard and quill ready, as if Tonks was getting inspected.

"You requested my presence, Madam Bones?"

"Yes, Auror Tonks, I just needed to debrief you about your previous encounters with Harry Potter at Number 4, Privet Drive, especially after tonight's events. It was _going_ to be merely a formality, just to clear things up, but the Minister thought we could be a bit more official, so may I introduce the Undersecretary to the –"

"_Senior _Undersecretary_, _Amelia." Oh, this old bat was horrible.

Madam Bones' face tightened up and she looked ready to explode, her clenching into a white-knuckled fist. "Sorry, _Senior _Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Dolores Umbridge." She mockingly waved her hand in a prestigious manner to the toad on her left, the sarcasm passing uncaught by Umbridge.

"Thank you, Amelia. Auror Tonks, the Ministry has –"

"Dolores?"

Umbridge looked down on Amelia with a smile on her face, though the fury of being interrupted was written in her eyes. "Yes, Amelia?"

"I believe that _I_ was meant to question Tonks, and you were meant to merely watch?"

"Oh. Of course. Please proceed." Her smile continued, but it was obvious that she was livid about not being able to have her fun with Tonks.

Madam Bones cleared her throat. "Tonks, please briefly recap the first time that you visited Number 4, Privet Drive."

This was easy. "I was ordered by auror Shacklebolt to call at Harry Potter's household to take his wand, due to his use of underage magic. When I got to the house, I received word from Shacklebolt that a stunner was fired inside of the house, so I rushed inside to see Harry Potter's uncle on the floor, with his new house elf, Dobby, in position to have recently attacked him. Potter seemed to be scared by my blasting the door open, and had no idea if I was an auror or attacker, so he retreated up the stairs. I followed in pursuit and took his wand. He then explained to me that he had just hired a house elf the previous night and didn't know that he had to register the elf with the Ministry. As you know, he owled you that night and received confirmation from you that the house elf was registered as his and that any magic done at Number 4 or the surrounding area would be assumed to have been performed by the elf."

Madam Bones nodded when Tonks was finished. "I did receive the owl from Mr. Potter explaining the situation with the house elf and I excused him from the underage magic charges that occurred that morning," she said, seemingly to herself but probably just to clarify to Umbridge that Harry had done nothing wrong. "Any questions, Dolores?"

Umbridge, who had spent the past minute of Tonks' story scribbling on her clipboard, had a tense look on her face as Tonks was sure the woman's mind was racing behind that toady face to find some loophole to make it seem that Harry had broken the law. In reality, Tonks was sure that Harry had been doing tons of underage magic since the event at the beginning of Summer, but there was no way for the Ministry to prove that he did any of it. The toad shook her head after a few minutes.

"Good," Madam Bones said. "Now Tonks, explain the what happened tonight, if you please."

This was going to be tougher, as she now had to lie to her boss. If Fudge's lackey found out that she had been on guard duty for the a secret organization ran by Dumbledore, Tonks was sure it would not go down well.

"At the end of my first visit to Privet Drive, I told Potter that he could contact me if he needed help with anything, or if anything dangerous happened. I know that there were rumors about Lord Voldemort returning, and _whether they were true or not_," she emphasized the last phrase to calm down Umbridge's furious face, which looked ready to suffocate Tonks with its tongue. She couldn't say outright that she believed that Voldemort was back to a Fudge loyalist, but it was still fun to see the lady squirm at the mention of the name.

"Whether they were true or not, I knew that there was a death eater attack last summer and I wanted to make sure there were no dead fourteen-year-olds on my conscience. I received an owl from him earlier tonight, saying that there was a domestic disturbance at his house. His uncle had hit his aunt and he sicked Dobby on the man again to protect the woman. He wanted me to come over because he didn't know what to do with the subdued man. When I arrived at Number 4, I felt a terrible cold, and I knew that feeling to come with dementors."

That got full attention of Bones and Umbridge, widening their eyes. "Dementors?" asked Madam Bones. "In Little Whinging?"

"Preposterous," said Umbridge simply. "This is just a cooked-tale to excuse Potter from his punishment for –"

"If you are accusing my auror of lying to us, Dolores," interrupted Madam Bones. "Please allow her to finish her story." She gestured for Tonks to continue.

"Thank you." Now she could truthfully recount what happened. "After the feeling passed and I was strong enough to get back up, I entered the house and met up with Potter and his aunt, who had both felt the cold and despair, as well. Harry had realized that his cousin was out in the neighborhood, and he deduced that the boy walking around had attracted the dementors away from us. He first had his house elf go out to find his cousin, but after it took too long, we both felt that Dobby and the Dursley boy were now both in danger. Anything that Potter did after that moment was done with the intention of saving two souls, including summoning his broomstick and casting a patronus to ward away the dementors. I apparated the elf and boy back to Number 4, where Mrs. Dursley and I gave the two of them chocolate. Potter came back a few minutes later after driving the dementors away for good."

After a long pause following Tonks' story, Madam Bones spoke. "Very well, Tonks. Everything seems to be in order. Mr. Potter had a right to use magic to save his cousin and his house-elf, so the prior order to expel and arrest him is hereby –"

"Hem hem." Both Tonks and Madam Bones looked up at Umbridge. Tonks had only heard about the woman's annoying throat-clearing tendency, but she now knew why people hated it. It was made to sound so innocent, but innocent wasn't in Umbridge's vocabulary. "This is a very convenient story, Nymphadora." She had used Tonks' first name. This bitch had a death wish. "But it is a pity that you decided to fabricate a story involving Dementors, which muggles are unable to see, and therefore no witnesses will be available to confirm your story."

"Forgive me, Madam Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic," she had hoped that her use of Umbridge's ridiculously long title would show her sarcastic respect for the woman. "But the reason I came in to give you my account of these events is because I _am _a witness."

"You?" Umbridge challenged. "Oh, no, I'm not so sure that Cornelius will allow you to act as a witness in Potter's trial. No, no, you definitely present a conflict of interest that will prevent you from testifying at the hearing. Surely an unbiased person, having been sent to Potter's house twice would have succeeded at least once in apprehending him."

She had to challenge the old toad. "Apprehending him for what exactly?"

Madam Bones held her hand up to Tonks, then turned to Umbridge to clarify something. "I'm sorry, did you say a trial? This is underage magic, Dolores. The worst that will happen is _if _Potter used magic in a non-life-threatening event, he'd sit down with me to explain and if I find him guilty, then his future at Hogwarts would be in question. No trials, prison, or arrests."

"Sorry, Amelia, but Cornelius believes that since Potter is a threat to the security of the nation," Madam Bones rolled her eyes at the idea that Harry was a threat. "he should not be treated lightly and therefore his verdict and sentence must be decided by the Wizengamot in old courtroom 10 on, oh, let's say, the 31st of July at noon."

"Let me get this straight, Dolores. Not only have you already decided on a date and time for a hearing that I have heard nothing about –"

"Cornelius has actually decided on it." Tonks was ready to hit this woman. Every she said the Minister's name her face looked around at the other two like they were going to be in awe that she was on first-name basis with him.

"But you are also holding the hearing in the old courtrooms, which haven't been used since Death Eaters were questioned over a decade ago?" Madam Bones looked ready to just attack anyone in her sight, and Tonks could not blame her. The blatant disregard for justice and reason had just landed Umbridge on Tonks' shit list.

"Potter is a threat to national security. His claims are concerning the public and Cornelius will not stand for such lies. He will be dealt with accordingly."

"You're acting like the Wizengamot's already reached its decision!" Tonks could not help blowing up at a superior; this was the most disgusting thing she had ever witnessed.

Umbridge simply smiled, like she her goal was to get one of them to lose their temper. "Oh, I'm sure that the trial will not take long, auror Tonks." She gave the most gut-wrenching chuckle and went around the desk to leave the office.

Tonks just dropped to a slump in her chair before realizing the company she was still in. She sat up straight, facing Madam Bones.

"You don't have to act all proper with me, Tonks, but thank you. Don't worry, only the head of the DMLE has the power to decide who can be a witness and I see nothing to discredit your account of what happened tonight. Fudge may be the Minister, but I will not allow such corruption to take place in my department. Now, I do think that the trial will be short as she predicted, but not in Fudge's favor. I need your memory of your account of tonight's events, however."

Tonks nodded and thought about the events from the moment she blasted the Dursley's door open to when she saw Harry coming back from fighting off the dementors. Madam Bones put her wand to Tonks' temple and pulled a long silver strand from it, placing it in a vial. She then took the vial to a pensieve inside a cabinet and stuck her head into it. A few minutes later she pulled her head back up and nodded to Tonks, smiling.

"Yes, I believe that will be enough to convince the Wizengamot that Potter had the right to use magic in that situation. Good job, Tonks. I'll see you in the morning."

Tonks nodded and exited the office. It was confusing that the matter of Number 4, Privet Drive exploding didn't come up, but Dumbledore had specifically instructed her not to mention it. The headmaster must have done superbly in covering it up if the news hadn't made it to the Ministry yet.

She was glad that she wasn't to be reprimanded for not arresting Harry, and that she could keep her job, yet she still felt empty. Did she really want to continue working for this Ministry? Madam Bones was corruption-proof, obviously, but her top boss and his lapdog were disgusting human beings who Tonks was ashamed of working for.

She got to the atrium and apparated back to her home, heading right for the bed and passing out without even removing her auror robes. She had some thinking to do.

A/N Please review! BTW, sorry if you don't like the RHr pairing. I like them together, so together they are. Also sorry for the hints of Harry/Ginny. The road to Honks happening will be excruciatingly slow because, well, that's real life. They'll be involved with other people, because stuff like that happens in relationships, unless it's a Disney fairy tale. Honks is my all-time favorite pairing, or else I wouldn't be writing it, but they need obstacles to survive through or they wouldn't be a real pairing. Thanks for reviewing!


	5. The First Descent

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, but that would be cool. Not that I'm into slavery, but it would be fun. The world is JK Rowling's, strictly. I don't make any money off of this.

A/n Please forgive me. I've been either to busy or not inspired enough. But this is the longest chapter yet! Hope you guys like it.

The previous night at Number 12, Grimmauld Place had been eventful, at least at first. Dobby had words with the resident house-elf, Kreacher, who looked to be at least three times Dobby's age, and wore nothing but a tea rag that had been fashioned into a loin cloth. He had almost dropped dead at the sight of Dobby's garments, then upon finding out that Harry Potter was his owner, preceded to call Harry a good-for-nothing blood traitor who was as good as dead. Harry had walked in on the exchange directly after this comment to find both Dobby and Sirius lunging at the old elf. They probably would have succeeded in tearing him apart limb from limb had they not both been held back, Dobby by Harry and Sirius by Mr. Weasley.

One thing that Harry found peculiar was the sinister feeling he got from the house they were staying in, caused especially by the abundance of serpent-featuring artwork spread throughout it. At dinner Harry had asked why such a creepy-looking place that looked to be owned by supporters of Voldemort was being used as headquarters for a group dedicated to fighting him. He was shocked to find out that the house was none other than Sirius' family's. Apparently the whole Black family was full of muggle-hating, Slytherin-sorted, pureblood-worshipping nutjobs, and Sirius had been one of the few black sheep, so to speak.

He lost the chance to keep talking to Sirius when the many others eating with them had kept on the constant questions about the dementor attack, then moved on to praising Harry for the numerous things he had done in years past. After a minute or two of this, he stopped trying to be modest and just sat back, letting the others speak about him.

He found it incredibly odd for Aunt Petunia and Dudley to be at the table eating with them. The two of them, like Harry, chose not to participate in the conversation, but still had gapingly shocked expressions at the stories of Harry's misadventures over the years. Most of it had been exaggerated, compared to what Harry had remembered about it. He had just been doing what needed to be done all of those times, and he felt that anyone would have done the same things that he did. He certainly wished that someone else would have done all of it.

Since dinner was so late, people retired to bed after desert, and Harry missed the chance to catch up with Sirius again. After a lot of goodnights, Harry and Ron got back into the room that they would be sharing and passed right out in their respective beds.

It was now 6 in the morning. Harry had been awaken by Ron's snores and could not fall back asleep. When he was half a second away from grabbing his wand and trying out a silencing charm on his friend, a knock occurred on the door. Harry got out of bed and headed for the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Dumbledore at the threshold, looking worn-out but smiling.

"Good morning, Harry. I'm terribly sorry for the earliness of my visit."

"Oh, it's okay Professor. Ron's snoring kept me from going back to sleep anyway. Um," He really didn't know what to say to the man who he had defied in a manner that, in retrospect, seemed slightly destructive the previous night. "What did you need, sir?"

"I was wondering if you would accompany me to the library downstairs. I have a few things to speak with you about, and I would think that a nice quiet room would suffice compared to Mr. Weasley's snores."

Harry nodded. He asked for a quick minute to put on some jeans and a t-shirt, because he felt severely under-dressed in his pajamas compared to a fully-robed Dumbledore. Not that regular muggle clothes were much better, but it was better than a tank top and pajama pants.

Dumbledore led Harry downstairs, the two of them walking in silence. Harry had felt this awkward in very few situations throughout his life. He didn't regret breaking up Number 4's blood wards in any way, but he didn't want to find himself on the bad side of his school headmaster, especially when he was the one wizard that Voldemort ever feared. They got into the living room, where Dumbledore headed for a bookcase. He moved his finger along each book's spine on the row directly in front of this face and stopped at the book entitled Parseltongue for Prats. He pulled the book halfway out, then slid it back into place. Like out of one of the muggle spy movies Harry had seen the Dursleys watching from time to time, the book case slid to the side, revealing a stair case.

After getting to the bottom, Harry found himself in a small circular room with four pathways leading out of it. Dumbledore led Harry to the one on the far right, and they continued down the path. They passed two doors before Dumbledore stopped at the third and opened it. Inside Harry saw a library bigger than even the one at Hogwarts, with shelves that seemed to go on forever, stacked to the ceiling with books. He walked in and was blown away by the size of the place, which also had dozens of small tables that were all painted with what had to be the Black family crest on their surfaces.

"The Blacks have one of the most extensive libraries in all of Great Britain," said Dumbledore as he went to table to sit, and gestured for Harry to join him. "A lot of the books in the typical pureblood family's collection are about the dark arts, but occasionally something that is more appropriately studied pops up. This room is the only one down here that Sirius had access to growing up. I don't think that he's bothered to try getting into the other ones since he moved back in, but I imagine he could if he wanted to, being the last of his bloodline." He and Harry both found a spot at the first table.

"Does Hermione know about this place?" asked Harry, still looking around at the size of it. He knew his friend would freak out if she had found it.

"If we had told her, I get the feeling that she still would not have left. But if the need for a good distraction pops up, you are welcome to divulge the secret. Now, on to the purposes of our early meeting. I wish to inform you first that Number 4, Privet Drive has already been rebuilt."

Harry's heart dropped. After what he had done last night, shocking Dumbledore to a point that he had never witnessed, and getting him to agree to bring the Dursley's back to headquarters, he would never have imagined the damage would be undone in less than half a day. Dumbledore continued.

"The magic that you used was powerful, and will leave permanent signs of damage, but it was not dark magic, and so the house could at least be partially restored to basic living conditions."

It took a lot, but he did not let his rising anger show on his face. 'Keep calm, Harry. That anger's not going to accomplish anything. What are you going to blow up here? Don't show him your cards. Stay calm and focus.' He asked calmly, "And do you plan on putting the Dursleys back into it?"

"No, Harry." This startled Harry as relief flooded over him. The effort that he was putting forward to hide his anger subsided as the anger did. As his mind calmed down, something intriguing happened. Dumbledore gave an odd smile, then the eye contact between the two of them intensified.

As if it was a reflex, Harry somehow knew to shut his emotions down again, but more than he had in the last twelve hours. Then, without meaning to do so, he found himself starting to fall inwards into himself, one of the weirdest feelings he had ever experienced. He was almost to a point where he was fully looking into what he assumed was his own mind when his name was called from a distance.

"Harry? Harry, are you alright?" Harry snapped out of it and found himself back at the table with Dumbledore. "You seemed a little out of it, Harry. Are you feeling okay?" But the slight smile on the headmaster's face suggested that Dumbledore might have known what was going on. Harry nodded his head and apologized, and the old man went on. "You permanently destroyed the blood wards, so there is no reason to keep the Dursley family together unnaturally. We have modified the memories of all that witnessed the explosion last night. They still remember it, so that we could hide Petunia and Dudley, but to them the disaster was caused by a gas leak and occurred years ago.

"Your aunt and cousin are now believed to be long dead. Your uncle has been returned to Privet Drive, his memory also modified to make him believe that his family is gone. The spell also spreads to all that knew the Dursleys. It took a quite difficult memory charm, but forgive me for bragging when I say that I was able to perform it skillfully.

"I would like to move Petunia and Dudley sooner rather than later, preferably later today. They will be given new identities, and with some financial help from you, they could be relocated anywhere that you wish them to be. I have already spoken to Petunia, and she is more than willing to be away from her husband, to start anew with her son."

This was a lot to take in. This was really happening; he had done something to take control of his life and instead of Dumbledore standing in his way, the man was now assisting him. He wished Vernon would be punished more, but the fact that Petunia was out of his reach and he never had to see the man again was enough. "They'll need to be put far away. I don't care how much money I have to spend, I don't want Voldemort finding them. Can we get them out of the country?"

"I was actually going to suggest to move them out of the continent, Harry."

"I'm sorry, I don't follow, sir."

"I've got quite a few contacts in Salem, Massachusetts. I know that you've read about the rich Wizarding history of the city in your History of Magic classes, though I would not blame you for not retaining most of the information. I have hidden a handful of people, muggle and magic, in Salem over the years, with the help of a dear American friend of mine, a former teacher at Hogwarts, as a matter of fact. As far as I know, those people are still very safe and their true identities remain uncompromised." Once he finished his last sentence, the more intense eye contact happened again between the two, so quick that if Harry hadn't been so alert after a few minutes ago, he wouldn't have noticed it. This time, however, he was ready.

He shut down his emotions and willed himself to go back inwards. He wondered how he could do this so easily, but he would have to figure that out later, because the feeling of falling inwards came again, and he found himself not at the table, but in complete darkness, and he started to realize that he was actually falling. He tried to look around and find something in the darkness, and felt success as he looked in the direction of his descent to see a small gold box not far from him, but falling faster than he was.

Eyes squinting in determination, he turned his body and stiffened up into a position to fall faster. Whatever that thing was, it would help him to understand what was going on here. After about ten more seconds, the box seemed to be falling at a slower rate, and so was Harry. Then, out of nowhere, it turned at a right angle and sped up, leaving Harry to land on the ground of wherever he was. Thankfully, he had somehow been able to land on his feet, and he found what direction the box was going and sprinted at full blast to catch it. There was a low light where he was, but all he could focus on was the box. It was flying towards a large door at the end of the tunnel Harry was chasing it down, and as the box approached it, the door began to open. Bright lights blinded Harry, but he closed his eyes and continued running. He let his eyes open once more to see that the box must have entered the door, because it was closing again. However, he was close enough to jump through it before it closed completely, and he did so.

What he saw in the room bewildered him more than anything else could have. Millions of bright silver streams were flying all around the large room that he was now in, so blinding that he couldn't make out anything but them, and it was barely possible to distinguish one stream from another. They looked oddly familiar to him. Wherever that golden box was, he couldn't see it at all. He had no idea what any of this was, and was so overwhelmed that frustration was growing inside of him. That frustration quickly grew into annoyance, and soon, Harry was angry. He chased a box in midair, then down a big corridor and into a large room full of stupid, pointless, streams of light. What was the point? His anger was growing to be enough to give him a severe headache, and after just a minute inside the bright room, Harry blacked out.

He opened his eyes to see Dumbledore again, though the headmaster was now smiling widely. "Did you have fun in there, Harry?"

"What happened?"

"You performed a type of magic that few your age have ever been capable of. But we must discuss the plan regarding your family first. Are you okay with the destination?"

Harry took a second to recover from what had happened. His headache was gone, and he was no longer out of breath from running. He nodded for Dumbledore to continue. His plan seemed as good as it could get, and very safe. "That sounds good. Can we go to Gringotts today to get the money situated?"

"Of course. Remus and Miss Tonks will be accompanying you with your family to Diagon Alley this afternoon, and I will contact my associate to have him set a place up."

"Thank you, professor, really. I know I wasn't the easiest to deal with last night. I don't regret doing what I had to do, but I'm sorry that you were caught up in it."

"It is quite alright, Harry. You were right, you know."

"Sir?"

"When you said that your mother would have done the same thing, you were right. She loved her sister with everything, even if the feeling wasn't always returned, and if she knew that Vernon had abused her, she would have done anything to stop it from happening again. I do think that the method of blasting away the house to stop it would have been James' idea, however. Your parents showed themselves in you last night, Harry. Both James and Lily would be proud of how you acted, though Lily might have scolded you for your rashness.

"You know, after all of the years I have spent trying to get people to understand the incredible power of the magic of love, I never thought that I would be trying to undermine it and resist it, Harry. Last night I was terribly wrong. Your motives and actions were propelled by love. You had just gotten what you've wanted your whole life, a family member who showed compassion and understanding towards you. I should have been proud, and yet last night I was disappointed and angry at you. I apologize. You are certainly far beyond your years, Harry."

Harry nodded. "Thank you professor. It means a lot for you to compare me to my parents. But, even though I did feel a lot of love at times last night, it was different when I was talking to you outside, and just before I exploded the house. It had to do with what just happened now." Dumbledore nodded knowingly. What did the old man know about what happened in Harry's mind last night and just now? He continued. "It was like I just pushed every emotion away from the front and put it all on the backburner for a while. It took a lot, because I wasn't just feeling loved by my family or rushed by the dementor attack, I was angry at you, professor." He felt embarrased to admit this, even though it was a truly obvious fact.

"I just told myself to put all the love, the adrenaline, and the anger aside, and focus on getting the Dursleys out of there. That's how I came up with a plan, and that's how I was able to shut you and others out. In Mrs. Figg's kitchen, I had a pretty close moment with Petunia and Dudley, then I pushed it all aside again. I went straight to the house, sent my stuff over, and then all that I had on my mind was destroying it."

He had no idea what any of it meant, but after trying not to look at Dumbledore for a minute, he gave in and looked up nervously. The headmaster smiled.

"I'm judging by your confusion, Harry, that you have never heard of the practice of Occlumency?"

Harry shook his head. "Is that something that we're going to be learning at school?"

"No, this is beyond Hogwarts education. Occlumency is the organization of the mind, and it is one of the few techniques that muggles share with magical beings, in most cases. There are several goals that occlumency can accomplish. One, the most common among those able to perform it, is to prevent distraction. This was what you did last night. You organized your mind, or as you put it, pushed things out of the way, and as a result you were able to focus better. As you just experienced, your mind still has a lot of organizing to be done, but that will come with time.

"Another function is less common, and it is meant to numb the body, to protect it from bodily sensations. Physical effects can still come to the body, but cold, heat, touch, and perhaps more importantly, pain, are blocked from the mind's attention, to an extent. Muggles have a far less chance of achieving this than witches and wizards do, but it could be done by those that are extremely skilled."

Harry was fascinated. He knew that focusing could be helped by pushing aside your emotions, but the fact that what he had done was an advanced form of magic and he might be able to shield himself from pain as well was extremely exciting.

"You said that focusing was one way that I used it last night, sir. What was the other?"

"Ah, that is the next level of expertise in Occlumency, and I am very sorry for what I am about to admit to you, Harry. In an effort to try and see how I could reason with you last night, I tried the opposite of Occlumency on you. It is called Legilimency, and it is the breaking into of one's mind."

"What?" Harry couldn't help the outburst. Dumbledore had tried to read his mind when he was yelling at him last night? Was that was had just happened?

"I am terribly sorry, Harry. However, you will be pleased, and quite interested, to know that my efforts to see into your mind were futile. I didn't put forth much of an effort, but I must say that I am quite an accomplished legilimens, and it took some extremely strong occlumency to fend me off."

He had fought off Dumbledore without even knowing it? This was unreal. Harry sat speechless for a minute before speaking up again. "Has that happened to you before sir?"

The headmaster was quiet for a moment, then answered. "Very few times. I believe that you are quite the natural when it comes to occlumency, though it did take some effort on your part. I noticed that you used it when I told you about the house on Privet Drive being rebuilt, then stopped once you found out that I was only putting Vernon back into the house. Then you tried to follow me into your mind. You were a bit slow the first time around, but it looked like you made it in on the second."

"So that big room with all those bright streams, that was my mind?"

"A representation of it, yes. Harry, I think that with training you could master the art of Occlumency with a precision shared with only a few. I wish to set you up with a teacher for private lessons immediately at the beginning of the school year. You will be able to learn about those streams, as you call them, and how to organize them."

"Why does it have to be immediately, sir? I mean, I'm excited to learn how to do all this, but you make it seem so urgent."

"Since Voldemort's return, I've been fearing that your connection with him would allow the two of you access into one another's minds. You've been doing this without realizing it for the past year. That dream before the Quidditch World Cup last year, and the one during your Divination class were examples of this connection. It is unknown whether or not Voldemort knows of this connection yet, but it's only a matter of time, and when he figures it out, he almost certainly will attempt to exploit it and see into your mind, maybe to taunt you, maybe to spy on the Order, maybe to possess and take control of you. It is convenient that you've so suddenly found a natural knack for this power."

Harry shivered. Becoming a pawn of Voldemort, or being used as a surveillance camera to spy on Dumbledore and the others? That couldn't happen. "And Occlumency can help me?"

"Yes. You can be taught to turn your Occlumency on even more precisely than you have been doing, and there are even methods of setting up defenses in your mind that can disorient and eject someone who has broken in already. It will prove most beneficial to your safety as well as that of others."

"Well then, yes, I want to do that. Definitely."

"Excellent, Harry. Until the school year starts, I want you to try and clear your mind of all emotions before you go to bed at night. Sleeping leaves your mind most vulnerable, but a clear mind is always harder to break into."

Harry nodded. "Of course. I can do that. Thank you, professor. If you don't mind me asking, what's going on with Fudge and the Ministry? I haven't heard anything about being expelled or arrested since last night."

"Nymphyadora was able to speak to Madam Bones and convince her of your innocence, but Cornelius still wished to hold a full criminal trial for what he sees as your crimes. It is no worry, Harry. Enough proof has been submitted to Madam Bones to prove that you had every right to perform the patronus last night."

"And the explosion? There's not much we can do to cover that up, is there? The muggles have been obliviated but I'm sure the Ministry got wind of my house being blown up."

"I've taken care of that, also. You will have to be present for the trial, but rest assured that you will be on the Hogwarts Express on September 1st."

"Thanks, sir. When's the trial?"

"Ah," said Dumbledore. "I do hope that this doesn't spoil any plans of yours, but it seems that Cornelius has plotted to hold the trial on the 31st of July, your birthday."

"He really doesn't like me, does he?"

"It is more that he fears you, Harry. Rather, he fears what you have to say. If what you say is true, as it is, then times of unrest and uncertainty are upon us. Cornelius would rather deny that anything is wrong than have to deal with a second war with Lord Voldemort. With the exception of a few events in the past few years, his term as Minister has been rather peaceful. He doesn't want even the possibility of adversity."

"Forgive me, Professor, but that's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard.

Just because you don't want something to happen, it doesn't mean that it won't."

Dumbledore smiled. "You and I see eye to eye, then. That is exactly the reason that we have both been the victims of Fudge's recent smear campaign, discrediting two formerly revered figures in the Wizarding society made to look mad. We both know that I'm not going senile and that you're not an attention-hungry lunatic, but that is the message that Fudge is sending, and unfortunately people are eating it up."

"Well, if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know."

"I appreciate that, Harry. And now, I must adjourn to other matters. Having a dark wizard threatening life as we know it really eats up an old man's schedule." Dumbledore rose to leave. "Feel free to stay here and sample some of the more appropriate books. Might I suggest the section on magical confectioneries? A most surprising amount of it in here for such a dark family."

"Thanks, sir," Harry said as Dumbledore made his way to the door. "Professor?" he stopped Dumbledore just as the man got to the doorway. He looked Harry's way. "In my mind, I was chasing a golden box. I would assume if you were breaking in, I would have seen you. What was the box?"

"Ah, that is something that you will be most interested to find out at a later date, for it is currently of no consequence. Good day, Harry." And at that mysterious note, Dumbledore left Harry in confused silence.

~~~rr~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The streets of London were packed end-to-end, typical of a Saturday afternoon. Families on shopping trips were hustling around, trying on clothes, eating lunch, checking out new expensive gadgets. Children chased each other around gleefully on their way to candy shops and toy stores. Policemen strolled the area, though a peaceful day like this wasn't going to be spoiled by crime.

A rather peculiar group consisting of a very large boy, his skinny mother, and a scrawny boy with messy hair were being led by a young woman with shocking pink hair and followed closely by a shabbily-dressed man. Other than the occasional second glance at the odd diversity in the group, nobody paid them much attention, which proved fortunate as they suddenly disappeared between two buildings.

Tonks walked through the doors of The Leaky Cauldron, leading Harry with his aunt and cousin, and Remus bringing up the rear. She waved to Tom, the barman, then turned to the group. She couldn't make it seem too much like she was guarding them, so she pointed them to a table as if they were all friends.

Harry looked embarrased as Tom and the few other people in the bar started talking about him as if he were on a television set. Tonks could only imagine what that was like, not being able to go anywhere without being gawked at.

She led them over to the farthest table in the corner to separate themselves from the idiots trying to get a look at Harry. Once everyone but her and Remus were seated, Remus gave instructions. "Okay, Harry, Tonks is going to accompany you to Gringotts while I stay here with your family. It's not completely dangerous to have them in Diagon Alley, but with a few upper-class witches and wizards being known death eaters, we don't want a run-in with any of them made worse if they see two muggles with us.

"You'll withdraw your money, and get it converted to muggle currency, then we'll leave quickly." He turned to look at Petunia and Dudley. "After they're done here, we'll go back out into London and you two can pick up some clothes and supplies for yourselves, then to your airport. I assume you know how to buy tickets, right?" Petunia nodded nervously, and Tonks smiled and shook her head.

She couldn't get over the insanity of how muggles were able to create a method of travel involving a giant metal contraption flying over an ocean, but apparition over such a big distance was impossible and an international portkey could not be made with a simple spell. Tonks shuddered at the amount of parchment-work that would be required for the ministry to approve such a portkey, and that would be without the Minister of Magic on an anti-Harry Potter tirade. Even so, she was dumbstruck when Dumbledore told her that the Dursleys were traveling that way. Being raised by a muggle-born, she had known about airplanes, but the idea still freaked her out.

Harry got up and Remus took his seat across from the Dursleys. He called for drinks over to the table as Tonks and Harry exited the pub and made their way to the brick wall. As Tonks tapped the necessary bricks to reveal the doorway to Diagon Alley, she noticed Harry looking rather sad. "Everything okay?" she asked as they stepped over the threshold and made their way through the crowds towards Gringotts. "I think with the crowds out here it'll be harder for people to notice you," she said with a reassuring smile.

Harry just looked down. "It's not really that, Tonks. I mean, yeah, being in public's never fun for me, but it's the Dursleys. It's just that it hasn't even been a full day yet. Not even 24 hours have passed since I got my first hug from Petunia or my first hand shake from Dudley. I finally have a real aunt and a real cousin, and they're being moved away. I know that it's safer for them this way, but it's still hard."

Tonks couldn't help but feel bad for Harry. The kid had been to hell and back just a few weeks ago, then just last night he had to endure a dementor attack and now had to be separated from a family that he had literally just a few hours to bond with before they had to leave. He was so strong for getting through it all; she would have gone crazy already, but here he was, trudging along through Diagon Alley on the way to pay for his family's separation from him, because he knew it was the right way to go, and the safest. If there was one thing she could give this kid, it was respect.

The rest of the walk was silent. Tonks couldn't think of anything to say, and when she tried to express how much she respected him for what he had done last night and what he was doing now, all that came out were awkward starts to words that never formed.

They arrived at the pearly white building within ten minutes. Tonks went to the wizarding bank once in a while when she was already in Diagon Alley, but most of the time she used the Gringotts goblin who worked at the Ministry to process quick withdrawals and deposits. Harry looked like he knew what to do already, so she followed instead of leading him.

They made their way past the guards with secrecy sensors and into the large lobby of the bank. There was long line, but it moved quickly and a goblin was able to see them within fifteen minutes. He continued with whatever work he was doing while lazily asking, "How may I be of assistance?"

Harry spoke up. "I'd like to make a withdrawal from my vault, but in muggle money." He handed the goblin his key, which he had gotten from Dumbledore earlier.

The goblin reached for the key, glanced quickly at his client, then did a double take and sat up a little straighter, dropping his quill. "Mr. Potter. I apologize for the rudeness on my part. How much would you like to take out?"

"It's alright, please, treat me no less rudely than your other clients." Harry said with a smirk as Tonks snorted. "I'd like one thousand pounds, and five hundred thousand dollars, please."

Wow. Was Harry this loaded? Tonks had heard that the Potters were well off, but Harry was giving a huge amount of money to his relatives, more money than she made in a few years.

The goblin ran his finger along a piece of parchment, and numbers began writing themselves onto it. "Right then, Mr. Potter, that will be 49,852 galleons, seven sickles and ten knuts being taken from your vault, with 200 galleons being converted into pounds and the rest being converted into dollars. Would you like to hear your remaining balance or would you like that kept private?" He spoke the former option while glaring at Tonks with narrow eyes, and she glared back mutinously as she was flabbergasted at the goblin being suspicious of her.

Looking embarrased, Harry cleared his throat and said, "No, I don't need to hear it, thanks."

"Very well, Mr. Potter." He took out a smaller piece of parchment and ran his finger along that as well, making more writing appear on it. "Take this to our conversions department, where you will receive your money. Have a nice day."

It didn't take long for Harry to retrieve his money, which was put into a special bag that could hold large amounts and still fit in his pocket. The pair exited the bank and began the walk back to The Leaky Cauldron. Tonks was dreading another uncomfortably silent journey, until Harry spoke up.

"Your eyes," he said. "They were different at the beginning of the Summer."

Tonks took the opportunity to mess with him. "Been gazing into my eyes, have you Mr. Potter? I must say, we have to do something about your googly eyes."

As expected, Harry's face grew a shade of red that could rival the deep one of her t-shirt. "I mean, no, I wasn't..."

She burst out laughing. "Relax, Harry, relax. I'm sure it wasn't googly eyes that gave you the observation, it means you've got a keen attention to detail. There's one more reason to be an auror, by the way." She smiled at him.

Harry's face returned to an almost-normal shade as they passed the apothecary. "So what's with your eyes, then? Is it some sort of spell?"

"Nope!" she answered. "And you probably won't guess correct so I'll relieve you of your other attempts. I'm a metamorphmagus." Unsurprisingly, he looked confused. "It means I can change my appearance at will. Watch!"

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a nearby side alley, then squinted her face in concentration as the large nose and black hair of Severus Snape appeared in front of Harry. He jumped back in shock, as she would have if she had a mirror at the moment. She hadn't changed her clothes, only the size of them, so in front of Harry stood Professor Snape sporting a red t-shirt and quite tight jeans, not to mention a big, laughing grin. She wasn't sure what was less likely to be seen on her old potions teacher, the clothes or the smile.

It took Harry a full minute of laughing before he could let out enough breath to beg Tonks to change back. She did so, and the two of them continued laughing in the alley until their sides hurt.

They continued walking back as soon as all composure was restored, though both were now flushed from all the laughter. Harry asked, "So you're not a member of the Severus Snape fan club either, then?"

"Right you are. I was easily the best in my year at potions but for some reason he never took a liking to me, or any of my classmates, either. He almost ignored my O on the potions O.W.L. and didn't want to let me in his N.E.W.T. class. I think it was because I tripped and spilled a shrinking solution on his face in 3rd year. I still think the only thing it did was improve his nose, but he was furious."

"Did you end up getting in?"

"Oh yeah I had to, 'cause you need to take N.E.W.T. potions to become an auror." Tonks smiled at Harry's gaping mouth. "That's right, you're stuck with Snape a few more years, buddy! But anyway, I told my head of house Professor Sprout the situation and she went to Dumbledore. I loved the look on Snape's face that first day of classes."

"Yeah, he hasn't exactly been so chummy with me, either. He made big enemies with my dad and his friends in school, and it looks like he's just taking that out on me. He's tried a couple of times to get me expelled but Dumbledore keeps getting in the way of it. Oh well," he shrugged. "I've gotten through 4 years of torture with him, I guess three more isn't so bad. So can you learn how to become a meta...meta-whatever?"

Tonks smirked at the terrible effort in pronouncing the word. "A metamorphmagus? Actually, no, Harry, you have to be born with the ability. It's mostly hereditary, though my mum isn't one and can't think of a single member of her family that was, and my dad's muggle-born so he obviously didn't have any metamorphmagi in the family tree. So it's either skipped a dozen generations or I'm just that special. I'm learning towards the latter," she said with a wink. Unless you've had some sort of strange appearance-altering incident in your childhood, I'm afraid the odds are slim to none."

Harry looked disappointed at first but then his eyes grew bigger. "Wait! One time when I was little my aunt cut nearly all my hair off, then the next day it just grew back! That could be something, couldn't it?"

"Hmm." Tonks wasn't sure. "I don't know, Harry. That sounds like it could be something, but usually by your age it would have manifested itself in a bigger way than just that. Maybe later on I can do some tests to see if you have the ability or not." She didn't think it was very likely at all, but she still put on a reassuring smile.

"Thanks. Sorry to get carried away for a moment. It's just that it'd be really cool to change your appearance whenever you wanted," said Harry, his head down.

Tonks ventured a guess. "The scar?"

"Of course."

"That's understandable. It can't be easy having something that not only makes you distinguishable to the whole world, but also serves as a reminder of losing your parents. I'm sorry, Harry." She rested her hand on his shoulder as they approached the brick wall that led to The Leaky Cauldron, then she pulled her wand out and waved it in front of the wall to open it up.

"Thanks, Tonks. I really appreciate your understanding, and how you were able to make me laugh. Could you just do me a favor, though?"

"Sure thing," she said as they stepped through the new opening to the bar.

"Don't ever show me what Snape looks like in tight pants again, for the love of god."

Tonks fell apart laughing, and then so did Harry as the two of them had to catch their breaths again before reentering the pub.

~~~~~~~~~~break~~~~~~~~~~~

The two got back into The Leaky Cauldron and joined Remus and the Dursleys. Harry took out his bag and gave the one thousand pounds to Aunt Petunia, who looked up at him from the table with wide eyes.

"I- I can't-"

"Don't worry about it," Harry said with a half smile. He then held up the bag with the remainder of the money and said, "There's plenty more where that came from. You guys aren't going to have to worry about anything for a while."

Petunia got up and wrapped her arms around him, and he returned the hug gratefully. Remus and Dudley also got to their feet so that the five of them could set off into London. They had almost reached the door when the appearance of three heads of blonde hair stopped them. Harry nearly groaned with annoyance.

"Well, well, well," said Lucius Malfoy, his wife and son, Narcissa and Draco behind him. His eyes scanned the group in front of him haughtily. "Imagine my annoyance when my wife and I take our son to get new dress robes and we are bombarded with the site of two traitorous half-bloods, one filthy half-breed, and two," When his eyes passed over the Dursleys, they narrowed and the next word he spoke was of such disgust that you would think he were going to spit it out. "Muggles."

His eyes shot to Tonks, who had her wand out and pointed down this whole time. He really did spit his next sentence. "How dare you even consort with such filth, let alone have the nerve to bring them to a place for our kind? You are a disgrace to your tainted noble blood." The two stared at each other for what seemed like forever with disgust written all over both their faces.

Harry didn't know the story between Tonks and Lucius, but it didn't matter at the moment. He stepped forward and spoke up.

"You're appearing awfully confident today, Mr. Malfoy. You might want to hurry along before your master shows up. You were shaking so bad in that graveyard I wouldn't be surprised if you pissed yourself this time."

The younger Malfoy took his wand out and started for Harry after the insult, but Harry's wand was pointed into his face before he could even flinch his hand up. "Now, now Draco, let's not be rash," said Lucius dryly, looking disappointed in his son's slowness. He turned to Harry. "Get your wand out of my son's face, Potter, or I'll tell the Dark Lord my wand slipped and he won't be able to finish you himself."

Harry's boldness had taken control, and though he had obeyed Lucius and taken the wand out of Draco's path, he now had it pointed at the elder Malfoy. "Harry," he heard Lupin warn him from behind.

Lucius slightly turned his head and a half of a smile found his lips. "You think this wise, boy?" He pointed his wand slowly at Harry. "Surely you don't believe that your luck has extended this far."

Harry had studied a lot over the Summer, and he knew a lot more about defensive magic and counter curses, but he still wasn't ready for Lucius' quick and silent spell that hit him right in the chest and knocked him backwards into the air. From the ground, he looked up to see Lupin sending a spell Lucius' way and Tonks' wand pointed at Narcissa, daring her to do anything to help her husband. Harry jumped up pointed his wand back at Draco, preventing him from attacking Lupin.

"Incarcerous!" the werewolf shouted, and Lucius was bound in thin cords. He then looked to the bar, where Tom and the two bystanders left were staring, wide-mouthed. "Obliviate." Their faces grew blanker, and Harry could tell Lupin's memory charm had been effective. "Harry, Tonks, get the Dursleys out of here."

They obeyed, getting Harry's family behind them and backing out of the Leaky Cauldron slowly, their wands still pointed at the other Malfoys. Lupin followed them, not bothering to untie Lucius.

Once they were outside, Lupin put a locking charm on the door to the pub. "That'll only hold for a few minutes, but it's plenty. Come on." They followed him to an alley a couple blocks from the Leaky Cauldron. "We'll need to go to the other side of the city to do your shopping, I don't want them following us out once the door unlocks."

He picked up an old glass bottle and performed the same spell that Dumbledore had used the previous night to make a portkey. The bottled glowed blue and than returned to its normal state. As Harry made a note to ask someone to teach him the spell later on, Lupin held the bottle out so that Harry and Tonks could grab it with him. "Dudley, grab hold of Tonks' hand, and Petunia, you take mine. Harry, just touch it and we'll be ready to go."

He pointed his wand back in the direction of the pub, which Harry guessed was to untie Lucius, before grabbing hold of the bottle and sending them all to another alley in a different shopping area. "You were great back there, sir," said Harry, who was one of the three that stayed upright, looking down at Tonks and Dudley with a slight smile.

"Thanks," Lupin said as the two others got up and dusted themselves off. Then he brandished his wand toward Harry with a smirk on his face. "And if you call me 'sir' or 'professor' one more time, I'll be jinxing you myself. My last name or Remus is fine. Or Moony like James called me."

"It'll take some getting used to," said Harry. "Thanks for the help back there. I can't believe Lucius beat me that quickly."

"Lucius is one of the best duelists in the country, Harry. You were lucky he only knocked you back. And, to be honest, a tad on the foolish side for challenging him in the first place. You're going on trial for underage magic, and the last thing you should be doing is dueling Death Eaters who have the Minister in their pocket."

Harry felt so stupid he cold have hit himself. "You're absolutely right, profes- Remus. Sorry."

Petunia spoke up. Harry had just noticed how shaken up she looked. "Who was that man?"

"A real bloody piece of work, he is," said Tonks, who had stayed on the ground but moved to a sitting position against the wall. "He's one of the wizards that believe all you muggles are worthless. He also happens to be one of the most powerful of our enemies, magic-wise and government-wise. Like Remus said, he's a big financial supporter of the Minister, making him untouchable at the Ministry. He's a right damn disgrace to consider a family member, I'll tell you that."

Harry's mouth gaped open. He couldn't have heard that right. "You're related to the Malfoys?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Tonks nodded. "Dear Narcissa back there is my mum's sister. The whole lot of them except mum were all pure-blooded nuts. I think she and Sirius were the only cousins who weren't all crazy about it."

"What! Sirius is your cousin?" That one had thrown Harry for a loop.

"Right, I bet that hadn't really come up in conversation. Yeah, Sirius was like an older brother to me growing up, 'till he got framed. I only just found out he was innocent this Summer. Right big shock, I'll tell you."

Lupin cleared his throat. "Well, I think we should be getting along. We've got things to buy and I'm not all that familiar with the area." Everyone else nodded. Harry reached a hand to help Tonks up from the ground and she accepted it.

"For the record," she said as she got upright and the others were exiting the alley. "Don't tell anyone, but the whole blowing-up-the-house thing and stepping up to Lucius? It was pretty cool if you ask me, Harry." She winked at him and made to follow the others out onto the street. Harry had to strain to stop his embarrassingly wide grin from reaching his face as he took up the rear.

"Thanks," he called to Tonks with what he thought was a more cool-looking smile. "Nymphadora." And as a purposefully missed beam of light shot passed him and hit the brick wall behind him, he made a note to avoid the name.

Making better time than anticipated, they were able to finish shopping and catch a late lunch before heading to the airport. Petunia bought tickets with what was left of the money Harry gave her earlier and they headed to the security point, where Harry, Tonks, and Lupin would have to separate from the other two. Tonks took the Dursleys' luggage from her pocket and waved her wand over them to return them to normal size.

"Dumbledore's contact will be at the airport in Massachusetts waiting for you," said Lupin. "He'll have a sign with your name on it. All the American money from Harry is in your one of your suitcases, Petunia. Just make sure you put it in a less magical bag before taking it to a muggle bank."

"Thank you, both of you," responded a teary-eyed Petunia to Lupin and Tonks. Harry still was not used to this emotional side of her. "I can't begin to even explain all that you've done to help us in the last day." She smiled at them, and they smiled back before stepping away to give Harry his time with the Dursleys.

"Good luck over there," said Harry. "If you need anything, send me a letter at Hogwarts and let me know." He shook Dudley's hand and the two exchanged a glance and a nod that made apologies and forgiveness unnecessary. The large boy grabbed his bag and went to stand in the security line.

Petunia, unable to form words, hugged Harry with more force than she had used in the previous few times she hugged him over the past 24 hours. He squeezed back, not knowing when he'd be able to get a hug from his aunt again.

She finally found her voice. "Thank you so much, Harry. And I'm so sorry for the way you've been treated. Nobody deserved it."

"You've more than made up for it, Aunt Petunia. The past day's given me something I've wanted ever since I can remember. I finally have a real family."

They held their hug for another minute, Petunia crying in both guilt and gratitude. When they released, she said, "The box from the attic, the one I had you salvage from the house? I left it at Grimmauld Place on purpose. You've been deprived of so much information about Lily and about our parents. I'm sure you'll like everything that's in there."

"Thank you." Harry couldn't think of a better gift than some insight into his mother's and grandparents' lives. "I'll write," he said.

Petunia nodded, her eyes still teary. She looked into her sister's eyes one more time before smiling and turning to meet Dudley in the line at security.

Harry turned around in the other direction and walked toward Tonks and Lupin, who were sitting a a restaurant table. He sat down on Tonks' side. She rubbed his shoulder comfortingly and said, "You'll be able to write them over the year. And I bet there'll be plenty of time next Summer to even go see them."

Surprisingly, even to himself, Harry shook his head. "No. It's too dangerous right now, and I'm betting it'll be even more dangerous by next Summer. I've got a real family now, but the reality is that until Voldemort is finally dead, I can't have that luxury. It's not just the risk of Voldemort finding them, it's the fact that I don't think I'll be a hundred percent there for anyone until this is over." The chill in his voice spread through the table, and he could almost feel Tonks and Lupin shiver as they looked at each other.

He would see his family again, talk to them again. But not until the man who took everything from him was in the ground would he be able to fully enjoy the love of his family. He saw Lupin take out the portkey they had kept with them to return them to headquarters, and the three of them made their way to an abandoned hallway and took hold of it. Harry returned to Grimmauld place with them and got inside before turning to face Tonks and Lupin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He wants to join the Order!" Snape hadn't looked so mad in a while. Tonks almost thought she was back in Potions 3rd year with an empty flask of shrinking solution in her hand, not sitting at the Order meeting at Grimmauld Place.

"Harry's just a little curious about joining up and taking the fight to Voldemort, which nobody can say is surprising," explained Lupin.

"A little curious? He stopped us right when we got in the door and said point-blank 'I want to join the Order.' That seems a little more than a little thirst for information," Tonks said. She thought it was pretty weird that a kid still in Hogwarts would seriously request to join up, but she was still all for the idea. "And maybe it's not so ridiculous. He's obviously talented. Could be a nice asset to the Order." She ignored the incredulous stares coming from Professor McGonagall and Molly Weasley and the disagreeing grunt from Snape.

"Please," said the Potions master. "Potter has gotten by on luck and the talent of his friends. He's nothing more than a show-off who –" but he was cut off as Sirius' wand found a very large target on the center of his face. While his thought had ended, his demeanor remained unaffected. "Ah, and here comes the ever-protective godfather to Potter's rescue. You can put your wand away and act civilized now, Black. And not that we'll be surprised by your answer, but what say you about Potter's request?"

Sirius' eyes narrowed as he put his wand away and sat back down. "I agree with Tonks." Out of the corner of her eye Tonks saw Snape roll his eyes. "Harry would be an excellent addition to our ranks."

Molly spoke up. "Yes, Sirius, I'm sure that you would have fun fighting alongside Harry, but honestly, he's just a boy, not even close to being out of Hogwarts yet."

"What do you think, Albus?," asked McGonagall. The headmaster had been strangely quiet during the debate over Harry.

Dumbledore took a second to answer. "Harry lost the childhood that he should have had thanks to Lord Voldemort. It is only natural that he should want to join a group dedicated to fighting him." Sirius smiled and leaned back in his chair as if it was settled, but Dumbledore held a finger up. "But, the fact remains that Harry is still underage. He may be incredibly talented for his age, but he still cannot perform magic outside of Hogwarts without breaking the law."

"Well, technically," began Sirius, but Dumbledore once again kept going.

"His having a house-elf gave him a loop-hole at Privet Drive, yes, but he is still around adults who have a responsibility to keep him from doing magic outside of school. During his last few years at Hogwarts, we will make sure that he is prepared as he can be to defend himself and carry out missions for the Order. In fact, he will be receiving special classes this year learning a certain type of defense. But I am afraid that the condition that requires Order members to be of age and out of school must stand." The finality of his voice quieted the whole table, even those who disagreed.

"Now then," the headmaster continued. "We will have to move on to the rest of tonight's meeting. Severus, has news of last night's events reached the Death Eaters yet?"

"No," answered Snape. "Whatever you did to cover up the explosion made it so that the Dark Lord has not heard of it. It will probably become known that Potter's aunt and cousin are no longer at Privet Drive, but for the time being, the Dark Lord is none the wiser."

"Actually," interjected Remus. "They may find out sooner than expected. We ran into a slight hiccup on our outing today. The Malfoys saw us at the Leaky Cauldron with the Dursleys. We were able to escape them, and I erased the memories of all witnesses, but I'm guessing that Lucius will be telling Voldemort and they may send somebody to check out Privet Drive."

Dumbledore nodded. "It is a good thing that we still have a lookout at Number 4, then. We will be alerted if any suspicious characters show up. Petunia and Dudley Dursley should be safe in their hiding spot by now, and I doubt that Voldemort will be able to locate them. Since Harry is no longer living there, we will focus less on security in Little Whinging and focus more on the Department of Mysteries. Now, Remus, have you made any more progress with your contact to the Werewolf community?"

Remus cleared his throat. "He's still a little reluctant about giving me the location to an actual clan, let alone help me speak to one, but I think I'm slowly making momentum. A few more meetings should do it, but we need to be careful. I've been asking other contacts and it seems that the Death Eaters have enlisted Fenrir Greyback. If he's the envoy that they've been sending to the clans then they'll be a lot less likely to hear me out." At the confused faces around the table, which included Tonks, he said, "Greyback is much more popular among our kind than me, or any other werewolf that's attempted to fit into Wizarding society. If it's us against him, they'll side with him nine times out of then."

"If it happens that Greyback has been convincing clans to join Voldemort, we shall deal with it then. For now, Remus, please continue with your contact."

"You got it, Albus."

"And now," said Albus. "I need a volunteer. It seems that the Ministry has taken an extra-keen interest in the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching post this year. They've given me until the end of the month, which I am aware is only a week away, to fill the spot, otherwise a Ministry official will be taking the post. As you can all imagine, this would be the beginning of a Ministry attempt to interfere with how Hogwarts is run, something that hasn't happened in hundreds of years.

"It makes the most sense, of course, to select somebody who not only is skilled against the Dark Arts but that I can trust, and it so happens that I have a table full of very qualified witches and wizards in front of me tonight." He looked expectantly around the table for a hand to raise or a voice to speak up, but all that he got was stillness and silence.

'Of course nobody wants the job,' Tonks thought. Nobody since as far back as she could remember lasted more than a year teaching that subject at Hogwarts. Sure, it was a great job, in a secure castle, with free room and board, and having Dumbledore as a boss instead of Fudge, but the position was surely cursed, which was why she would never understand how she formed her next words.

"I'll do it." Previously, everyone at the table qualified for the job had been looking down, unwilling to take the job and not wishing to admit it. Now, the entire population of the meeting had their eyes on Tonks, completely shocked.

"Tonks," said Kingsley. "You just became an auror."

"Yes, Kingsley, and it's nothing on you, but I can't stand working for that old tosser a second longer." She switched her gaze to look at the whole table, and not just her boss. "I know the subject inside and out, and I'll be damned if I'm not a good enough candidate for this. I know that there's some sort of jinx on the job, but hey, maybe I'll be the first one who breaks it!" She made a nervous laugh, then looked directly at Dumbledore, who had his eyebrows raised but looked far less skeptical than the rest of the table.

"Very well, Nympha-"

"Sir?" she couldn't believe she was interrupting Dumbledore, but she'd gone the whole Summer trying to withstand it and couldn't anymore.

"Yes?"

"I know that you mean no harm by it, but my first name kills me. In return for taking the job, do you think you could call me Tonks?"

Dumbledore smiled. "An old teacher's mistake. I will certainly stop referring to you by your first name. Thank you, Professor Tonks."

"Thank _you_, sir." The rest of the meeting passed over Tonks' head. What had she just done? Major career decisions shouldn't happen in the blink of an eye like that. More than half of her life had been devoted to becoming an Auror, and now that she had achieved it, why would she give it up and try a new job? Was she just like a dog chasing a car, not knowing what to do with it when she actually caught it? Sure, the job wasn't what she expected, but that was due to the idiot Minister.

That had to be it. Maybe when this was all over, she'd go back to working for what she hoped would be a better Ministry. For the time being, though, she couldn't work for such a sorry excuse for a leader. She would have to give it up for the time being. She felt even better when she realized that with one of the darkest wizards ever back on the rise, teaching kids about defending themselves was as important as anything.

'Good,' she said to herself. 'There's one perk to having to be Snape's coworker.'

A/n 3 cheers for teacher!Tonks! i've always wanted to see how that would play out. but there's one more twist to the whole D.A.D.A. gig. read on!


	6. Before the Trial

Harry had nowhere left to go; it was over.

"Blast, Ron, how did you ever get so good at chess?" He had just lost the third straight game to his friend that afternoon, the eve of his birthday and his criminal trial at the Ministry of Magic. It was a little worrisome, but Dumbledore's reassurance that he would be cleared helped calm him. "Another go?"

"I honestly don't see how you two can be playing wizard's chess at a time like this," said Hermione as Ron nodded and ordered his pieces to return to formation. She was sitting on a chair not far from the table that Harry and Ron were playing at in their room, three large books spread out across her lap. "Let's see, yes, the Statute of Secrecy clearly states you can use magic to defend yourself and/or another. And the case of Willard the Whimsical in 1657 went Willard's way after he saved those muggles from a burning house. I think you should be okay, Harry. I really don't see any reason they should expel you."

"We know, Hermione," said Ron with a smile. "You've been going over those law books for an hour and a half and you're bringing up the same points. Pawn to E7." He looked from the board up to Harry after Hermione flashed a playful smirk his way. One thing Harry liked about his friends' relationship was the lack of ferocity in their bickering. "I'm sure you'll still be able to sit through boring classes with us, mate."

"It should be fine. Dumbledore seems confident enough. Pawn to C6."

"I still can't believe he broke into your mind," said Hermione.

"I can't believe you fought him off, Harry. Knight to E3." Ron smirked as Harry shook his head in frustration and settled for moving his pawn to D5. "Knight to F3. They'll be printing your chocolate frog card in no time."

"Yeah, but I didn't even know I was doing it then. Who knows if I could even do it consciously? I've been trying to clear my mind before bed every night but I've got no idea if it's working, besides the lack of nightmares, and I haven't had one all Summer. I'll have to ask Dumbledore about it tomorrow before the trial. Wait! Pawn to E4." Harry's ego swelled after taking Ron's pawn, but it deflated once Ron's knight took his pawn directly afterward.

"Do you think you could teach us what you get taught when you start your training, Harry?" Hermione asked. "Occlumency sounds so fascinating."

"I'll see what I understand first, and I'll try and show you what I can," Harry answered. "Okay, knight to F6."

"I wonder who your teacher will be," Hermione though out loud. "I'd assume it was someone who's already teaching, but I've barely heard of Occlumency, so I have no idea who would be such an expert. Do you think it could be Dumbledore himself?"

Ron moved his queen to E2 as Harry thought about it. "No, it sounded like he was going to get someone else to do it. Um, knight to D7."

Ron spoke while Hermione thought of it. "Well if it has to do with a lack of emotion, you can bet Snape's one of the candidates. And if that happens, Harry, I'm not sure I want you to teach me anything you hear from him. Oh, and I'm sorry, mate, but knight to D6."

Harry sighed. Ron's knight was in position to take his king, and though he could take the knight out with a pawn, that would just open up a path for Ron's queen to win the game. Ron laughed and Harry's head hung low as he lost again.

"Keep practicing with Dobby, mate, I'm sure you'll beat me in a few decades," Ron teased. He started to clean up his set when another trio appeared in the doorway.

"Wizard's chess, huh?" said Sirius as he walked in, followed by Remus and Tonks. Harry instantly sat up straight at the sight of Tonks, hoping that nobody paid any attention to it. Unfortunately, he saw Hermione glance at him out of the corner of her eye for a microsecond. "Back in our Hogwarts days, Remus would beat us all, no contest."

"I hear you're pretty good too, Ron," Remus said. "Fancy a quick, friendly match?" Ron nodded and put his pieces back on the board, while Remus took Harry's spot across from the redhead. Tonks conjured a

chair next to Hermione, who had stopped reading a few minutes ago, and the two of them began spectating the game.

Harry and Sirius leaned on a wall watching the first few minutes of the game. While it was interesting to see two very good players furiously calling out moves and getting frustrated as neither was gaining the upper hand, Harry found himself occasionally glancing over at Tonks, who hadn't seemed to notice him doing so. Her hair was different today, short, spiky, and green, while her eyes were a deep gold. Just as he began to notice her tight green t-shirt, Sirius tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the door.

His godfather led him out of the room and down the hall. "Crushing on older women, eh?" Sirius teased.

"I – She – " Harry stammered, but Sirius just laughed.

"Relax, it's all in good fun. I've been in prison for twelve years and on the run for two, so I have some catching up to do when it comes to teasing you about girls."

Harry tried to laugh along with Sirius, but just a nervous chuckle was able to escape him. It was half embarrassment from the situation with Tonks and half just not knowing what to say to the man. He hadn't had any alone time with Sirius at all, and Mrs. Weasley wasn't helping matters. Ever since the night that Harry requested to join the Order and an argument ensued during dinner between his godfather and surrogate mother on the very matter, Mrs. Weasley had kept the teenagers busy with chores. Harry had appreciated everything that she had done for him over the years, but he was still annoyed that she was trying to keep him from knowing too much about what the Order did, despite her good intentions.

"Where are we headed to?" Harry finally asked. Sirius had directed them up a flight of stairs, to the third floor.

"Thought you'd like to see my old bedroom. I actually haven't even gone in here since returning. I figure since we're having to clean the house, you and I could take on a special project. Though, I doubt it's contaminated like the rest of the house. I set the doorknob to burn whoever touched it besides me, and the door is blast-proof." He stopped at a door with the name "Sirius Orion Black" carved into it. It had several scorch marks all over. "Looks like my dear old mother decided to test it for me. As you can see, it's still standing strong. He turned his doorknob and they entered the room.

If Gryffindor house had a spirit club, Sirius's room could have been used for the meetings. Everything in the room, from the bed to the dresser and decorations, was decked out in gold and red, save for a few posters of muggle cars and women, and a photo of the marauders all arm-in-arm at Hogwarts. The floors were spotless, and there wasn't very much in the room.

"When I said we'd have a special cleaning project, I meant we'd have a place to hide from Molly. I took all my stuff with me when I ran away in sixth year, and everything that I brought back with me I took upstairs to the master bedroom." He waved his wand, and the large bed became an even larger red L-shaped couch that took up one full wall and most of another. Golden pillows shot out of his wand and landed on it, keeping up with the Gryffindor theme. He jumped onto the longer section of the couch and spread out on it, while Harry sat on the shorter section. It was just as comfortable as his bed back at Hogwarts.

They sat and talked, about Sirius' days at Hogwarts, Quidditch, girls, everything Harry would want in a talk with his godfather. Voldemort didn't even come up. The talks all last year had been focused on the tournament, so this was a refreshing change of pace for him.

After a hilarious anecdote involving Snape and rainbow clown hair, Sirius said, "So you and your friends can use this room if you ever want to get away, but no taking Tonks in here, you understand, young man?" He chuckled loudly as Harry threw a golden pillow at his head. "This is half of your birthday present," he continued. "I figured you'll be busy tomorrow making a fool of our beloved minister, so I'd celebrate today."

"What's the other half?" Harry asked, wanting to punch himself after realizing how selfish he must have sounded. Apparently, his godfather didn't catch it.

"That's going to be more risky. Do you have your dad's cloak on you?"

Ever since the graveyard, he'd been carrying it with him at all times. When he nodded, Sirius said, "Excellent. Follow me!"

He took Harry down two floors, and led him to the same bookcase he had approached with Dumbledore a couple of days ago. He pulled the correct book and the two of them continued to the lower levels of number 12.

Instead of the path leading the library, Sirius went to the one on the far left, and led Harry all the way down it, to the last door on the right. "Dumbledore took me down here to the library a couple of days ago," Harry said as Sirius stopped them at the door.

"I heard about that. I told him I haven't been in any of these rooms except the library. In reality, I came down and explored this room as soon as I learned I was head of the Blacks. A painting of one of my more lovably resented ancestors told me about it." There was a small circle bearing the Black family crest above the doorknob, and Sirius pressed a large ring on his right hand to it, making the door click. He turned the doorknob. "May I present to you, the Sanctuary of the Noble and Ancient House of Black, named by my distant relative Phineas Nigellus Black, and humorously abbreviated 'SNAHB' by current head, Sirius Orion Black." He had pronounced the acronym to sound like the word 'snob.'

This room also had the running theme of Gryffindor house's colors, though it looked slightly more adult. There were less decorations on the walls, no posters or bed, and a large dark red desk that had parchment strewn all across it. If Sirius ever taught at Hogwarts, this was what Harry would expect his office to look like.

His godfather continued. "I can rework the charm to let you, Remus, Tonks, and your friends into my old room, but sadly, no amount of charm work will undo the magic on this place. Only the Black family ring belonging to the head of the family can open the door. The reason we're here today, though, is this." He walked over to the Snahb's fireplace and grabbed some floo powder from a canister. It took Harry a second to comprehend it.

"We're going out?" He knew that Sirius wasn't able to leave the house, since they knew Pettigrew was helping Voldemort and had probably told him of his animagus abilities. "Is that okay?"

"I daresay I'd be allowed to leave my own house," said Sirius, sounding slightly put off. Harry didn't want to sound like he were being too careful. In actuality, he kind of liked the risk. "But we won't get caught leaving this way. The wards on the house prohibit apparition, and Dumbledore monitors all floo activity, but this fireplace isn't connected to Dumbledore's ward. It can only take you to a limited number of places.

"Of course, all of the other Black estates are fair game, and I think there are about nine of them, not counting this one. Each of those mansions has a SNAHB that the floo travels to. There's also a part of Hogwarts that Phineas Nigellus installed himself when he was Headmaster, and I'm not sure anyone else knows about that one except for me and his painting." Harry made a mental note to ask about this one later. Another secret way in and out of Hogwarts sounded like priceless information. "But the one we will be using today is an abandoned shop that the Black family owns in Diagon Alley. It happens to be very close to Gringott's, our destination."

Harry wondered what they had to go to the bank for, and he hoped that Sirius wasn't planning on getting him anything expensive. The man continued. "Now, I haven't been to the shop yet, so I don't know where the fireplace is or if we'll be in plain sight of anybody who happens to peak in a window, which is why I need your cloak." Harry took it out of his jacket pocket and handed him his prized possession. "Right then, shall we?" He put the cloak on, then threw the powder into fireplace and spoke. "Black-owned shop in Diagon Alley!"

Harry didn't see Sirius go in, but knew he had left, since the flames that had sprouted from the fireplace had died down. He grabbed some powder and followed suit, saying the same phrase. The usually craziness followed, and a second later he was stumbling out of the fireplace in Diagon Alley, falling flat on his face.

"Need to work on your landing, Harry," he heard a voice say. He turned around and saw a hand sprout from out of nowhere, grab more powder from a canister, and throw it into the fireplace once more. "Greyhorn's office, Gringott's Bank, London!" Harry couldn't see anything happen after that, but assumed that Sirius was leaning into the fire to speak to a goblin next door at Gringott's, something he had only seen done once, and from the other end. A few minutes later the flames died down and Harry heard footsteps

head towards him. "Now, I'm going to walk with you under the cloak. My goblin friend will be waiting for us right inside of the bank, and he'll get us past the secrecy sensors."

Harry still was confused. Were they going to rob Gringott's? He started to head out of the shop, and heard footsteps behind him. They walked out and into Diagon Alley, which wasn't very crowded for a Sunday afternoon. He heard the shop door lock itself as it shut.

It was only a minute of walking before they reached the big white building. Luckily, nobody stopped him for an autograph. They got through the entrance, and standing by the big doorway to the lobby was a very old goblin. "Good afternoon Mr. Potter. Please come with me to my office. As Harry walked past the two wizards with secrecy sensors, he heard the goblin whispered to the men, "Wizard coming through under an invisibility cloak; he's with me." He looked back and saw the wizards twisting something on each of their sensors, so that when Sirius walked through, they didn't go off.

The goblin, who he could assume was Greyhorn, led Harry to the left, through a door not very different from the door leading into the building from Diagon Alley. The hall past the door was extremely long, and had more turns than Harry could keep track of. They stopped at the very last door, which had a sign next to it saying 'Greyhorn, Bank Manager.'

Harry now knew how this goblin was able to get Sirius through the door, past the secrecy sensors. He was the most top-ranked goblin in the entire bank.

"The office is secure, Sirius, you can take the cloak off," he said as they entered the office. Sirius obeyed and put the cloak inside of his own jacket pocket to use when they exited. "Take a seat, please gentlemen." Both of the two wizards sat in front of Greyhorn's large desk, opposite the goblin. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter. May I say, happy early birthday to you."

"Thank you, sir. I'm pleased to meet you, too."

"I hope you give that imbecile Fudge a run for his money tomorrow, by the way. I've heard the circumstances of your trial from Sirius and it is a wonder you are even being accused of such things."

"Well, hopefully common sense wins tomorrow."

Greyhorn laughed. "I like this one. Now, onto business. You have the parchment work finished, Sirius?"

"That I do, Greyhorn." He took a neatly folded roll of parchment from his jacket pocket and handed it to the goblin across the desk. Harry was very interested in what it was, but also interested in one other thing.

"Um, if I may ask, sir, why aren't you reporting us to the Ministry? I know that Sirius is innocent, but he's still the most wanted wizard in all of Britain."

"A very fair question, and one that I am glad you picked up on. Sirius learned of his role of head of the Black family very recently, upon entering his family home and finding out that both of his parents had perished."

Sirius cut in. "They disowned me when I ran away, but it seems they didn't do it officially, at least not through the bank, which is where the family-head stuff really matters."

"Yes, we never received any memo to remove him from his family. He wrote directly to me asking if he was truly the head of the family, and I informed him so, but I also told him that since Gringott's recognized him as a murderer, he would be unable to perform any actions as head of his family. Regular transactions that aren't done in person are allowed, of course, like the broomstick that he purchased about a year and a half ago, but actions that required physical presence, ones involving other family members or family properties, for instance, would not be recognized by the bank.

"In response to my letter, Sirius sent me a pensieve memory of both the day that one Peter Pettigrew was made your parent's secret keeper and of the night of his accused crimes, and I saw myself that he was innocent and Pettigrew the true culprit. Now, you are probably wondering why I did not come forward with these claims, and it was simply to prevent them from being discredited. Goblins are treated differently by the wizarding world, as you probably know by now. As high up on Goblin society's ladder as I am, a goblin barging into the Wizengamot to argue a man's innocence wouldn't be met with any seriousness.

"So no, I could not notify the public of Sirius' innocence, but Gringott's bank no longer recognizes him as a criminal, which is the reason that I met with the two of you today, despite having to sneak Sirius in."

"You can rest assured Harry, Greyhorn's office is almost as safe as Grimmauld Place or Hogwarts," Sirius said. "The Bank Manager of each Gringott's branch is, for all intents and purposes, the leader of the goblins in whichever country the bank is in. If I'm innocent in the eyes of Gringott's, I'm innocent in the eyes of all goblins."

"Now, onto today's business, Sirius."

"Yes, Greyhorn. I request that, with his permission of course, Harry James Potter be adopted as my son and heir to the Black family fortune."

Things went blank for Harry for a moment. Adopted by Sirius? This was what he had wanted for more than a year, ever since finding out that the man was innocent and his godfather.

Sirius looked to Harry and put a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, when I ran away from home, I had nowhere to go. The only place I could think of was your dad's. Your grandparents took me in as their own until James and I graduated. They gave me a home when I had none. And now that you don't have a home anymore, I figure I owe the Potter family one. I would like nothing more than to call you my son, Harry. It won't affect any connection whatsoever to your parents. Your name doesn't have to change. The only thing that will change is I would be your official guardian, responsible for your safety and happiness. Plus, when I kick the bucket, you get all the gold instead of my more disgusting relatives."

Greyhorn rejoined the conversation. "You are old enough to make this decision by yourself, Mr. Potter. Nobody else can make it for you, not your relatives nor your headmaster."

Harry didn't even require a minute to decide after recovering from the shock. He put on a smile and asked, "What do I have to do?"

Sirius gave a happy laugh, and Greyhorn pulled out one of the parchments that Sirius had given him. "I just require your signature on this last parchment. It not only gives permission to Sirius to adopt you and make parental decisions, but also means that you accept responsibility as head of the Black family in the event of Sirius' death.

Harry shook off the horrible idea of Sirius dying and took the long, black quill that Greyhorn offered him. "Now, Mr. Potter, be warned. This is a blood quill, and it is necessary for this type of magical contract. As you write on the parchment, the words you write will be carved into the back of your hand, and your blood will be used as ink."

The idea of such an object was horrible to Harry. Sirius said, "I'll be able to heal it right away, but it will hurt a bit as you're writing." Harry nodded, and signed his name with the quill. As promised, his signature was scratched onto his hand, and it appeared on the parchment in red. It was more of a scratching sensation than a carving one.

Greyhorn continued. "As an underage member of the Black family, you will receive 100 galleons per month, deposited into vault 687. When you become of age, 2400 galleons will be deposited into your vault per month.

After running his wand over Harry's hand to heal the scratch, Sirius put his arm on his shoulder. Harry could see the happiness in his now adoptive parent's face, and he was glad to make it happen. His own face mirrored Sirius' happiness. "Some birthday present, Sirius." He was unlikely to ever call him 'dad.'

"Oh that wasn't your present. It just made your present possible." He handed another roll of parchment to Greyhorn, who looked it over and nodded.

"It is the wish of the head of the Black family to emancipate the newest member of the family, Harry James Potter, effective on the 30th of July, 1995. Do you accept this motion, Mr. Potter?"

Emancipated? "So, I'm technically of age now? I can do magic?"

Sirius smiled and said, "I figured your little loophole with Dobby had a lot of holes in it. Now, you're an adult. The Ministry can't do anything when you do magic. The magic quill in Mafalda Hopkirk's office that tracks underage magic stops recognizing you or any other place affiliated with you."

"Do you accept this motion, Mr. Potter?" Greyhorn asked.

Harry barely needed a second to answer. "Yes, of course I do." He got up and hugged the man who had only been his guardian for a moment.

"Very well, I just need your signature once again." The goblin held out the parchment Sirius gave him and the blood quill. This time, Harry barely felt the pain through his joy. "Your monthly gold deposit is increased to 2400 galleons into vault 687." Harry's whistled in his mind. He was now getting nearly two and a half times what he had just won in the Triwizard Tournament in just one month. He reminded himself to give Dobby a raise. "Also, as Sirius stated, as an of-age wizard you are now permitted to use magic outside of an educational environment. The tracing charm on you is broken, and the Ministry of Magic will no longer be able to tell when you use magic. Is there anything else you would like to discuss today, Sirius?"

"No, I think that's all, Greyhorn. Thanks for everything."

Sirius put the cloak back on and the three of them walked back to the bank entrance, where Greyhorn nodded to the guards to signal that his guest was coming through once more.

"Good luck at your hearing tomorrow, Mr. Potter," he said as he reached up and shook Harry's hand. "You have the full support of the goblins."

"Thank you, sir," he replied, then walked out of the bank and across the street with his invisible adoptive father. As he approached the door, he heard it click and knew that Sirius had unlocked it somehow.

"Let's get back to Grimmauld, then," his godfather said. "I've got to go first so that I can accept you. I wish I could take down the bloody security on my office, but Phineas Nigellus was pretty adamant about it being impossible." He grabbed some more powder. "Repeat after me now. Careful, it's a mouthful. Sanctuary of the Noble and Ancient House of Black, Number 12, Grimmauld Place." The fire went green and died down again as Harry stepped up and repeated Sirius' actions.

For the first time, he didn't fall as he came out of the fireplace, though he tripped rather violently. "Well, that was an improvement, at least," Sirius said. He had already removed the cloak and he handed it back to Harry.

"So what was the point of all the talk of you wanting to be responsible for me and make all the decisions?" Harry asked in a playful tone.

"I was never big on responsibility, actually. This way's more fun. And I made one decision, that's got to count for something."

"Trust me, it does, Sirius. Does this help me at all at the trial tomorrow?"

"Sadly, no. While you're definitely innocent, it's still the saving-others defense that's gonna get you off. You were still a minor at the time in question." In response to Harry's raised eyebrows, surprised at Sirius' knowledge of law, he added, "Hey, I did do a small bit of learning as a kid. If I was going to break the rules I wanted to know what they were, at least. And while we're on the subject of public knowledge, I wanted to suggest something."

"Shoot," Harry said.

"It might be smart to hide the whole emancipation deal. If someone isn't counting on you being able to do magic outside of school without a big criminal trial, it puts their guard down, which gives you an edge, at least until the secret's out for good or you turn seventeen. So you might want to limit the people that know to Ron and Hermione for now."

"That _is _really smart," said Harry, wishing he had been clever enough to think of that.

"Moony may have been the smart one, but my brain can function at normal capacity when it needs to," Sirius answered. "Now, let's go see how those four are suffering without our company!"

* * *

Sirius let Remus and Tonks into his old room before stretching out onto the longer part of his sectional, leaving the shorter part for the other two. "Looks like you two lovebirds have no choice but snuggling!"

Tonks giggled and looked to Remus, who smirked at Sirius through narrowed eyes as he flicked his wand to conjure a cozy red armchair. He then cordially waved his arm to the space on the couch to Tonks. She did a mocking curtsy before taking her spot, while he got on his arm chair like a throne.

"No fun, Moony," Sirius pouted, then shrugged. "Oh, well. I guess the room needed some extra furniture anyway."

"So how was your time with Harry?" Tonks asked.

"Enlightening," Sirius answered, winking.

Suspicious, she inquired, "and did yours truly ever become the topic of conversation?"

"Only a little. I'm sure that auror's nose of yours sniffed out his crush from a mile away."

Tonks' eyelashes doubled in length as she said, "Well, can you blame him, cousin?"

"Was talking about girls the only thing you did?" Remus asked casually, with just a hint of suspicion in his tone.

"Well, we spent a while here, talking, then I showed him the SNAHB, and some of its features, and that was about it."

"Wait," Tonks interjected. "The what?"

"The Sanctuary of the Noble and Ancient House of Black," her cousin said. "My SNAHB. It was built by Phineus Nigellus Black and now, as the head of the family, sole access of it belongs to me. Been bloody useful so far."

"The one part of Black family heritage you enjoy, then?"

"Well aside from the ridiculous amount of gold, and being able to boss around everyone in the family, yes. And I've already set big plans in motion for the _new_ Black family. The vaults belonging to every member have been placed on hold until the goblins assure that not they nor anyone in their immediate family bears the dark mark. If they do, I repossess everything in the vaults, and their monthly allowance disappears. Furthermore, they'll be removed from the Black family for good, which means none of them can become head, and they don't get a knut when I die. Your mum's already been cleared, and dear Bellatrix has removed as a Black since she was convicted of being a death eater, plus her vault's been emptied into the Black vault. The Malfoy's, of course have yet to appear to prove their innocence, or lack thereof, but after a month Gringott's will automatically find them guilty and they'll share the same fate as Bella."

"I only hope they'd get the _exact_ fate and get a stint in Azkaban. I honestly almost hit Lucius with a castration curse the other day," Tonks said, rolling her eyes.

"Do you actually know a castration curse, Tonks?" asked Remus.

"Just don't cross me and you'll never have to find out, good sir."

"I still think you lot should have done _something_ more than tie old Lucy up long enough to get away," said Sirius. "If I was there –"

Remus interrupted. "You weren't there, Sirius. There were two underage wizards and two muggles there, not to mention other civilians in the bar. The main priority was getting Harry and the Dursleys out safe, which we did."

"Still, I think your castration wouldn't have been such a bad idea, Tonks."

"While we're on the subject of you hypothetically being out of the house, Sirius," began Remus, "Please tell me that you didn't use the floo in your office this morning." Sirius just shrugged, then Remus rolled his eyes. "You know you're not supposed to go out. It's extremely dangerous with Wormtail out there knowing what he knows." He stayed calm, but Tonks could tell he was getting angry.

"I took my godson out very quickly, and I was very discreet. We used James' cloak and nobody saw us."

Remus sighed, frustrated. "And where did you take him?"

"Took him to meet Greyhorn at Gringott's. He took care of the bank security then we sat down and I finally adopted Harry officially."

"I understand that that was more than a year in the making, but it was a huge risk to take, Sirius."

"I really don't need a scolding, Moony. I'm a grown man and I should be allowed to leave my own house when I want, and with who I want." Tonks was starting to feel uncomfortable as the tension grew thicker in the room. It was a few moments before Sirius spoke again. "Are you going to rat me out to Dumbledore, then?"

"You know I won't," Remus answered begrudgingly. "But you have to be careful, Sirius. All it takes is one person seeing you. I'm glad you took extra precautions this time around, but I still think it was stupid."

Sirius looked like he was going to come back with a quip, but Tonks decided to cut in. "Okay, boys, play nicely or I'll hex you both into oblivion. Come on, Dumbledore wants to have a meeting to prepare for tomorrow."

Remus nodded and rose to leave. He was ready to say something final to Sirius, but Tonks gave him a warning shake of her head, and he simply left. As Sirius was about to get up, Tonks said, "That wasn't everything, was it?"

Her cousin smirked. "What gave me away?"

"You gave up the information about adopting him far too easily. If that was all, you would have been a bit more secretive."

"It's a wonder Moony didn't catch on to that one. Good eye."

"So what _is_ the big secret?"

For a moment, Sirius narrowed his eyes in feigned mistrust, but then he smiled. "I used my status as Harry's parent to emancipate him."

"What?!" Tonks nearly fell off of the couch.

"I figure, if he's going to need to protect himself, he shouldn't have all these restrictions. I imagine Remus and Dumbledore would be pretty angry, so can we keep this to ourselves?"

"Of course. So he's able to do magic now?"

"Yep. He's bloody excited too. We're trying to keep it under wraps, though. The longer he can go without people finder out, the better."

"Well you're secret's safe with me." Tonks got up to leave for the meeting, and Sirius followed.

* * *

Harry was more than a little nervous when he woke up. It definitely took away from the excitement of turning fifteen. He could barely eat the breakfast that Mrs. Weasley put in front of him, and what he could stomach nearly left him when Mr. Weasley and Tonks took him to the Ministry by side-along apparition. He most definitely preferred flying.

With a pop, they appeared in the Ministry's atrium, which Harry marvelled at. It was huge, and nearly packed with witches and wizards, going every which way to get into the Ministry, out of it, or to the gigantic fireplaces that allowed them to leave by floo.

"This way, Harry," Mr. Weasley said, leading him to the visitor's desk. "Let's get you checked in. Standard procedure with visitors."

The bored-looking wizard at the desk didn't even look up from the magazine he was reading as he held his hand out for something. He reminded Harry of the goblin at Gringott's just a few days ago. When Tonks noticed his look of confusion as to what the wizard needed from him, she cleared her throat. "Your wand."

"Oh, right. Sorry," he said to the man and handed his wand over. The man put it on a scale-looking object, which made a few weird sounds before an attached quill began writing his name on a piece of parchment.

The man grabbed the parchment and asked, "And what is the purpose of your visit today Mr. –" He stopped and looked up when he looked at the name written.

"He has a hearing down in courtroom 10 later today, Eric. He'll be with me until then," said Mr. Weasley.

Eric nodded and wrote 'Hearing' on the bottom of the parchment, then stamped it with a Ministry seal. "Here you are, Mr. Potter." He handed the parchment and the wand to him quickly, then looked away nervously. Harry had the distinct impression that the man was afraid of him.

"Very well," said Mr. Weasley. "We'll see you in a few hours Tonks." The auror nodded, smiled at Harry, and waved goodbye. Harry watched her get into a lift and disappear. He wiped the stupid look off of his face and hoped that Mr. Weasley hadn't seen it. Luckily, the man was busy speaking with a colleague.

From across the atrium, Harry head, "Morning, Yaxley." He turned his head to where he'd heard the name. That had been the name of one of the death eaters in the graveyard.

"Pius," said a middle aged man with dirty blonde hair in stylish navy robes. The wizard who had greeted the death eater had long black hair and a goatee, and an imposing-looking insignia on the back of his maroon robes.

Just as the two passed each other, Yaxley made a quick turn to follow Pius. The tip of a wand could be seen peeking out of the man's sleeve.

Harry gasped and looked to Mr. Weasley, who was still talking with the same associate. He slipped away to the corridor that Yaxley and his potential victim went down, then pulled on his invisibility cloak.

He whispered, "Pas silencio," as quietly as he could, and he was rewarded with silent footsteps. The two men had reached the end of the corridor and turned into a room, one following the other. Harry ran to end to join them, fast enough to make it through the door before it closed. They had entered an ordinary loo.

"- didn't see you, there, Yaxley," Pius said as Harry got into the bathroom. The long-haired man smiled good-heartedly, though Harry thought he saw a touch of suspicion on his face. He walked up the urinal to do his business, while Yaxley just washed his hands.

The death eater made conversation. "Big day, today, Thicknisse. We finally get to see justice seen on that Potter boy."

"I hardly believe he's guilty of a crime, but we shall let the rest of the Wizengamot decide."

"Ah, yes. It must be good to have that seat on the Wizengamot. It would be a shame if you voted for the boy's innocence, though. Who knows what damage that could do? To the Ministry, to the country, to your family."

Yaxley looked up into the mirror to see Thicknisse finished with the toilet and staring back at him. "I don't take kindly to vague threats, Yaxley," he said darkly. "If you're going to threaten me, don't be a coward about it." As he turned to leave the restroom, Harry knew he respected this man in maroon robes.

Yaxley didn't share Harry's respect, but unfortunately for him, he also didn't match the boy's reaction time. By the time the death eater had his wand out and begun casting an unforgivable, Harry had thrown off his cloak and taken aim.

"Imperi –"

"Flipendo!" Harry's jinx hit Yaxley straight in the chest, and he flew back into the wall, cracking its ceramic. He landed on the ground with a thud and a grunt. Harry took the opportunity to check on Thicknisse. "Are you okay?"

The man didn't find time to answer before getting hit in the face with a red curse. He went down quickly, and Harry had to hope it was just a stunner as he turned back to Yaxley.

"Speak of the devil," he said dangerously. "The Dark Lord will favor me to no end for this. Viscalubris!"

A bright orange line launched at Harry, who shouted, "Protego!" just in time and watch the spell hit one of the stalls. Yaxley sent a silent curse at Harry next, and he dove and rolled out of the way, then aimed a reductor curse at the death eater's feet. The man jumped to avoid getting his legs blown off, but the floor freezing charm that Harry had learned made him stumble backwards to stay standing.

"Petrificus totalus!" Harry almost connected with his full body bind, but Yaxley proved to be an expert duelist when he was able to block the spell unbalanced. Finally, Yaxley found his footing.

He shot a purple spell at Harry, who had to duck and let it pass over his head. The curse blasted open the door behind him. He aimed and fired again. "Cultrusposo!" The knife-thrower spell was a split second faster than Yaxley's shield, and it dug into the man's shoulder.

His opponent let out a deafening roar and pulled the knife out, throwing it out aside. He stared at Harry through narrowed eyes. "Crucio!"

The first syllable alerted Harry enough for him to try and dodge the curse, as there was no blocking it. Unfortunately, he didn't get out of the way fast enough, and it connected with his side.

It wasn't quite the pain he felt from Voldemort's cruciatus curse in the graveyard, but it still put every nerve he had on hyperdrive and caused him to scream as if he were dying. Yaxley held the curse on him, and it intensified as time went on, Harry screaming the entire way. Whether the cruciatus lasted for five seconds or an hour, he didn't know.

He barely even registered the new voice that had entered the bathroom. A witch's. "Stupefy!"

**a/n **Here it is, six months in the making! It's been hard to find both inspiration and opportunity between family stuff and not having a laptop, but I hope this satisfies. Thanks for reading and as always please review!


	7. The Wrath of Bones

Harry was still in a haze, despite the sudden break in the spell. It brought on some relief, but his body was still in a world of hurt, enough to have blurry vision even through his glasses. He heard the voice cast incarcerous, and assumed it was meant to tie up Yaxley. Then she came close to him and said, "Doloro subsidio," one of the spells that he had learned over the Summer. The remaining pain disappeared gradually, and his vision returned.

He looked up to see a woman slightly older than his parents would have been, with short blonde hair. "Underage magic again, Mr. Potter? It's getting to be a serious problem."

"But –"

"I'm kidding, of course. I'm pleased to finally meet your acquaintance." She held her hand out and introduced herself. "Amelia Bones, but most people call me Madam for some reason. I'm the director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Harry shook her hand and said, "Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping me out there."

"Just my civic duty. Let's have a chat with your friend, shall we?" At first, he thought she was going to revive Thicknisse, who was still slumped against a wall, but she went to Yaxley and said, "Ennervate." The death eater slowly opened his eyes, which narrowed at her and Harry when he realized he was tied up. "Would you mind enlightening me on what went on here, Magnus?"

"The Potter brat attacked Thicknisse and me. I had things under control until you stunned me, Director Bones."

"Ah, yes, it was apparent you were in control. I was searching the corridor outside for young Mr. Potter, when all of a sudden the bathroom door burst open and I heard someone casting a cruciatus curse. Then when I finally get here, the scene I discover is you making the boy scream bloody murder."

"The little fool tried to hit me with the cruciatus. My counter may have been a little much for him."

Bones nodded. "I bet. Let's see what our witness has to say, shall we?"

She ennervated Thicknisse as she did Yaxley, and just like the death eater, the man opened his eyes slowly, then narrowed them. He jumped up quickly and started towards Yaxley, shouting, "Think you can imperius me, you dark piece of filth!? I've fought off stronger wizards then you!"

"Easy, Pius," Madam Bones warned him. "As you can see, Magnus isn't going anywhere. So, Yaxley, that's one unforgivable you at least tried to cast. Are you sure you didn't cast the cruciatus as well?" The death eater just silently stared forward, defeated. "Well, maybe your wand is feeling more talkative than you are. Accio." Yaxley's wand zipped from the floor to her hand, and she tapped her own wand to it.

One word began writing itself in front of Madam Bones: 'Crucio.'

She shook her head and tisked. She flicked her wand once and said, "Decem." The word 'crucio' disappeared, and an entire list of ten spells wrote itself out. "Plenty of dark spells that are going to be a year each in Azkaban, but those don't mean much next to the twenty years for attempting the imperius curse, or the life sentence for the cruciatus. Honestly, did you think I would neglect checking?"

Yaxley continued to stare into space, a look of contempt in his eyes. Madam Bones smirked and silently sent another stunner at him, knocking him out cold, before turning to Harry. "Mind if I check your wand? Just policy." Harry nodded, and she summoned his wand as well, tapping it the same way. The last spell he used wrote itself out: cultrusposo.

She just nodded and cast the decem spell again, bringing up his own list of spells. "Impressive for anyone, let alone a fifteen-year-old," she said, looking over the list.

Thicknisse, too, had approached and looked over Harry's spells. "Got that right, Amelia." He looked to Harry and held his hand out. "Pius Thicknisse, Mr. Potter. You're in fifth year, correct?"

"Yes , sir," he answered after shaking the man's hand. He could feel himself growing red under the praise he was getting.

"If you want to ever pursue a career with the Hitwizards, look me up in a few years. Saving the head of the department doesn't hurt your chances of a job. Thanks for that by the way."

Harry just nodded; he'd barely heard of the Hitwizards, and wondered if they were anything like aurors.

Madam Bones handed the wand back to him. "I'll have to withdraw your memory of this incident at a later time Harry, but right now -"

Just then, Harry heard someone come panting into the bathroom, and he turned to point his wand at the doorway. He put it down, however, when he saw that it was Mr. Weasley. "Harry, there you are, we've been looking everywhere for you! There's been a change to your trial."

"What is it?" he asked.

Madam Bones answered for Mr. Weasley. "It starts in about three minutes."

Harry was flabbergasted, which was evident on his face, but it was Mr. Thicknisse who spoke. "What?! It wasn't supposed to be until noon!"

"I'd imagine it's just some scheme cooked up last minute by Fudge or his pet toad. Luckily, Harry will show up just in time. But first," Bones conjured a piece of parchment, tapped it with her wand to write a message, then tapped it again to make it fold into a plane and fly away. She then picked up a shard of tile and cast, "Portus." It glowed blue, like when Dumbledore and Lupin had used the spell, and she tossed it at Yaxley, who disappeared at once. "Hopefully he'll be comfortable in the holding cells." She cast the portkey spell on another piece of tile, this time instructing Harry and Thicknisse to grab on with her, and with the familiar tug, they left for the courtroom.

* * *

Tonks sat on the witness bench, unable to sit still from the nerves. Where in the blazes was Harry?

She'd left him in the atrium with Arthur, then arrived in the Auror's office to find out that the trial was rescheduled and was going to start at 8 that morning instead of 12. She rushed back to the Atrium only to discover Arthur frantically searching the area. Apparently, he'd lost the 15 year old.

Luckily, Madam Bones was on her way to the courtroom through the Atrium, and Tonks caught up with her. She instructed Tonks to report to the trial while she looked for Harry. Now she found herself shaking with worry for her new friend.

The Minister, sitting at the judge's podium, made matters worse, commenting on Harry's lateness affecting the trial as if that had anything to do with underage magic. Even more maddening was that Harry wasn't even technically late yet. Sure, she would have expected him to be at the courtroom at least thirty minutes early, but not when the trial was rescheduled to four hours earlier.

A few seconds before 9:01, according to Tonks' watch, Madam Bones arrived with Harry and, strangely, Pius Thicknisse, the Head of the Hitwizards, in tow. Tonks couldn't describe how she felt when Harry walked in. From just under her throat to just above her abdomen, there was a tightness that she could only associate with moments of giddyness as a little girl. For some reason, she wanted to shout from the rooftops and announce her joyfulness that Harry was okay, and unharmed. She had to fight the tears of happiness that were approaching her eyes. He was okay.

As Tonks came back to reality, Thicknisse made his way to his seat, and Fudge spoke up. "You're late Mr. Potter. This will not shine lightly on your case."

"Minister, Harry found himself held up this morning. He was in danger and fighting for his life, as well as defending one Ministry Official from another. I may just give him some sort of commendation this afternoon," answered Bones.

The minister sputtered. "What madness is this? What danger could have possibly kept Potter from showing up on time?"

"Mr. Potter was defending Pius and himself from an attack in the atrium loo, sir. Perhaps if the trial had begun at the scheduled time, he would have been able to prove more punctual."

"The Ministry cannot bend to the whims of a fifteen year boy. An attack from who?"

Madam Bones ignored the first comment and answered the question. "Magnus Yaxley."

"Yaxley!?" Fudge chuckled. "You expect me to believe that a respected Ministry Official attacked Pius and Potter this morning?"

"He actually only attacked Pius in the beginning. Potter happened to be in the area at the time and came to the rescue." Thicknisse nodded confirmation, but Fudge was pointedly ignoring it. "If you want proof, I've got plenty of it for later, but right now we have a trial to get through. Off you go, Mr. Potter." Tonks saw Harry figure out that the lone wooden chair in the middle of the courtroom was his, and take his seat.

Madam Bones, meanwhile, made her way upstairs towards the judge's podium. "And if I can have my seat back, Minister, we can begin."

"Sorry?" Fudge asked, appearing confused. "My dear Amelia, I will be residing over this hearing. Please take your seat."

"There's someone in it, Cornelius." Her tone was calm, but gradually approaching a level of danger. "The Chief Witch or Worlock of the Wizengamot resides over trials such as these, and that title was given to me when you had it stripped it from Dumbledore. Unless you want to convince everyone here to strip me of the title, in which case we will have to spend an hour or two going through candidates for my replacement and voting, and if that person doesn't agree with you about the boy, you'll have to strip them as well. Merlin, we could be in here all day."

The entire courtroom had their eyes on the confrontation now. Fudge looked uncomfortable, while Madam Bones simply stared at the Minister, waiting. Finally, Fudge moved over to the next seat, grumbling mad.

Just then, Umbridge, who had been in the seat on the other side of the judge's chair, rose and shouted, "I will not sit here and watch this mistreatment of justice! I am leaving."

Madam Bones took her seat, looking confused. "Sorry, Madam Umbridge, but what were you doing here in the first place?"

Much to Tonks' delight, Umbridge's eyes narrowed in fury. "I will have you know that I am the Senior Under -"

"Yes, Delores, we all understand that you're Fudge's lapdog, but I was just curious as to why you are here when you have no seat on the Wizengamot. I'm afraid visitors are only allowed with the Chief Witch's permission, which you do not have."

Umbridge said nothing; she simply glared daggers at Madam Bones and stormed out of the courtroom. Tonks noticed that quite a few members of the Wizengamot looked much happier with her exit.

"Now onto business," Madam Bones said. She looked at Harry. "State your name, please."

* * *

Harry had to make a conscience effort to keep from gulping. "Harry James Potter." He enjoyed watching Madam Bones shift the Minister aside like that, and throw out his assistant (or whatever she was), but he also knew that this woman was one hundred percent business, and apparently wasn't in a very good mood.

"Mr. Potter, you are charged with illegal use of underage magic in the presence of a muggle. How do you plead?"

That was easy. "Not guilty, ma'am."

"Very well. Did you knowingly cast the patronus charm on the night of July 27th 1995, in the presence of your cousin, a muggle?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And why did you do this?"

"Because of a dementor attack." That got the crowd talking. Murmuring was more the word. Apparently the detail about the dementors hadn't gotten out. He went on. "I was in my home with my aunt, and we both felt cold, like how you feel when a dementor's around. After a while, they went away, but I realized my cousin, Dudley, was out in the neighborhood, so I went out and found him being attacked, and I drove the dementors away."

"Were there any witches or wizards there with you?"

"Yes. I had contacted Auror Tonks previously, and she went with me after the dementors. She apparated my cousin to safety, as well as my house elf, who had gone out to help Dudley first, while I cast the Patronus."

The Wizengamot's murmuring was hard to control after that. Harry could make out some of them marveling at the fact he could cast a patronus, some speaking of self defense, and some even calling their Minister an idiot.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. May we have auror Nymphadora Tonks on the stand please?"

Tonks got up and approached Harry's seat, while he took a seat on the witness bench. She gave him a slight smile, sat up straight, and turned her attention to the Wizengamot.

Madam Bones began the questioning. "Auror Tonks, were you present at Number 4 Privet Drive on the night in question?"

"Yes, I was."

"And were Dementors also present on that night?"

"Yes. I felt them as I approached. After a few minutes, they moved on, and I went into the house to check on Mr. Potter and his family."

"And they felt the presence of Dementors as well?"

"Yes, they did. Right after I entered the house, Mr. Potter realized that his cousin was out and sent his house-elf to help. After the house-elf had taken too long, we made the decision to go look for them."

"And it was at that moment that Potter began using magic?"

Tonks nodded. "He summoned his broomstick, which we used to get a better view. We found his cousin and house-elf quickly, being attacked by several dementors. Mr. Potter cast the patronus charm, and I apparated the two in danger to safety, as he said."

"Very well." Madam Bones nodded and began speaking to the Wizengamot. "Auror Tonks turned in a pensieve memory of the incident to me on the night in question. We will now view the memory as evidence in the matter."

"Hold on just one minute Amelia!" shouted Fudge. "We do not allow pensieve memories in Wizengamot hearings!"

"Correction, Cornelius. We do not allow pensieve memories as evidence in hearings that take place more than two weeks after the event in question, because they take weeks to flawlessly alter. Since you were in such a hurry to schedule this hearing on this young man's birthday, it seems you overlooked that fact. Is there any other reason why you don't think this memory is acceptable?" Defeated, and with a look of contempt, Fudge shifted his gaze forward once again."

Madam Bones levitated the vial containing Tonks' memory to the wall near the door to the testimony area that Harry and Tonks were in. The wall had a basin-looking shape protruding out of it that reminded Harry of the pensieve in Dumbledore's office. As he poured Tonks' memory into the basin, Harry's took in the bright, streamy look of it and remembered where he'd seen it before. He'd solved the mystery of the bright lights in the room in his head: they were memories.

* * *

Tonks loved this part. She watched her memory get stirred into the basin, and then it was in the walls, the bright blue color swirling around the stone that surrounded Harry and her. The memory then took form above them, so that the Wizengamot could view it. It was about fifteen minutes in which they couldn't see or hear the Wizengamot, and the Wizengamot couldn't see or hear them. There was just a solid blue light forming a ceiling for the testimony area.

"I think we did alright," she said to Harry. "At least Madam Bones was clear and straightforward in her questioning."

"Yeah, I can't help but think the Minister wouldn't be as fair questioning me."

"Got that right. I'm glad Madam Bones put him back in his place today."

"She's not going to catch the same heat as Dumbledore and me, is she?"

Tonks shrugged. "Maybe. But there's no budging with her. If something seems alright, she'll call you an idiot for not leaving it alone, and if she smells something fishy, you can be damn sure she'll investigate. She doesn't care about consequences for her, she just wants to do the right thing." She smiled at Harry, and the two of them looked up at the memory ceiling. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked him.

Harry looked away from the light and smiled back at her, and the feelings she had when she knew he had arrived burned more intensely. What was that? He simply said, "Yeah. Beautiful." And she wasn't entire sure he was just talking about the ceiling.

Their eyes locked on to each other and the feeling in her chest was getting to be too much. Rescuing her, the blue ceiling disappeared, revealing the Wizengamot. Tonks cleared her throat, hoping that would help what she felt. Unfortunately, it didn't completely go away.

But that could have been caused by what happened when the memory ended. For a few seconds, the crowd just stared at Harry and Tonks, then they heard a clap. It had come from Pius Thicknisse, the man Harry had supposedly saved. From the other side of the jury, Augusta Longbottom joined in. Rufus Scrimgeour and Jonathan Greengrass began after them. Before long, almost the entire Wizengamot was on their feet, giving a standing ovation to Harry after seeing what he had done that night. Only a few of the members with darker reputations stayed in their seat, Fudge the main one, shaking his head and looking bitter. Also shaking her head was Madam Bones, trying to retain a bit of decorum but being betrayed by the smile creeping in from the corners of her mouth. Tonks looked over and laughed at Harry's mixed look of relief and horror.

When Madam Bones had finally calmed down the Wizengamot, she called for a vote, and the result was an overwhelming call for Harry's not guilty verdict. She cleared him of all of the ridiculous charges, and announced the end of the session.

Tonks and Harry left the courtroom and found Dumbledore in the corridor, smiling. "Well done, both of you. I heard about your unfortunate meeting with Yaxley this morning, Harry. We are lucky that Madam Bones stepped in, both then and in the hearing. Perhaps, after his interrogation, the world will finally know of Voldemort's return."

Most of the crowd gathering outside of the courtroom was raving about the danger of dementors running loose, but Fudge was able to dodge the multitude of people trying to question him and approached the trio, accompanied by Umbridge, who had returned at some point. Dumbledore instructed Harry to find Arthur, who was waiting near the lift. "This isn't over, Dumbledore," said the Minister. "Potter may have slipped by this time, but he can't escape justice forever."

"If he ever commits a crime, Cornelius, I will bring Mr. Potter in myself," quipped Dumbledore. "Now that small talk is out of the way, I am curious as to your lack of a response to my letter two days ago, stating that I have met your deadline and found my Defense teacher for the year. I believe you know Miss Tonks?" Tonks smiled jovially at the Minister.

"What ridiculousness is this, Albus? I have not received so much as an inkling of correspondence regarding you stealing my auror as your professor. The deadline was yesterday, and as I have gotten no update, I have already appointed my choice for your teaching position." He gestured to Umbridge, and Tonks nearly threw up in her mouth at the thought of that horrid woman becoming a teacher.

"I don't know who it was that hid my letter to you, Minister, but it still stands that I offered Miss Tonks a job. I cannot rescind the offer."

"I'm not budging on this, Dumbledore," said Fudge. "Dolores will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, or so help me, your little school won't be able to handle all of the sanctions I make against it!"

Dumbledore merely raised his eyebrows at Fudge's proclamation. "Well, if my school and students are going to receive threats, I do prefer the empty kind, don't you Professor Tonks? I believe I can make a compromise, Cornelius. Delores can teach years one through four, while Tonks can use her experience as an auror to teach years five through seven."

"No! Delores will take the older years!" shouted Fudge. Umbridge looked at her boss quickly while Dumbledore laughed and clasped his hands together.

"An excellent idea! Is it not wonderful how working together can solve a problem, my friend?"

Fudge just grumbled and started to turn away before looking to Tonks. "Couldn't wait to leave your Ministry, could you, Auror Tonks?"

"I have this thing about wanting to work for competent employers. Good day, Minister," she replied, walking off towards Arthur and Harry and resisting the urge to look back at Fudge and Umbridge's faces after her insult.

Dumbledore had followed her, and the four entered into a lift together. "You were expecting the split position, weren't you, sir?" Asked Tonks.

"I was expecting Cornelius to do whatever he could to stop me from what he thinks I'm plotting."

"And what is that?"

"He's under the belief that I'm recruiting students for an army to take over the Ministry. Apparently I would be able to train the more advanced students for a revolt. When I recommended that you teach the older three years, Cornelius jumped at the opportunity to have Delores teach them, without realizing that his spy will now be teaching less than half of the defense classes. He believes that he's taking potential soldiers away from me, when he's really doing nothing to me, save for the annoyance that is now on my teaching staff."

It made sense to Tonks, though she still felt bad for Harry and the rest of the older students, who would have to withstand Umbridge's teaching for an entire year.

"So the Minister's going to have a spy at Hogwarts, and she'll be our new Defense teacher?" asked Harry.

"Unfortunately, yes, Harry. She'll no doubt discourage practical magic, so I would try to form a small study group for your O.W.L.s this year. The bright side of this is that while Professor Umbridge is watching us, she'll be away from the Ministry. Before this, rumor had it that she was eying Madam Bones' job heading the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There's no telling what damage she could cause the country from that position."

They exited the lift and made for the floos in the Ministry's Atrium, but a scream stopped them as something black had pushed its way out of a ventilation duct. There was no mistake what it was.

The dementor rushed towards the fountain, and Dumbledore aimed his wand to send a patronus out and herd it to the fountain and upwards to the sky, higher and higher until neither was visible.

"What the blazes was that about?" Tonks asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, we should notify Amelia to check on her prisoner," Dumbledore answered. "He's most likely been kissed."

* * *

Mr. Weasley floo'd back to Grimmauld Place after Harry asked to accompany Dumbledore and Tonks to the auror office. He wanted to see the place that he might consider working at in a few years. He was still a bit cold from the presence of the dementor, but he tried to shrug it off as the three of them reentered the Ministry lift and descended to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

The cool female voice announced the department, but was barely audible as they entered the corridor lined with doors, between which workers were running back and forth. Tonks and Harry followed Dumbledore through the mayhem and around a corner to a pair of heavy wooden doors. The real chaos was happening here as instructions were shouted from all directions, while several bars of chocolate were being handed around and multiple patronuses patrolled, delivering warmth to the Aurors that had been closest to the dementor.

"This way," said Dumbledore as he led them to the far left corner of the offices. The modern look of the headquarters ended as they entered a door to a staircase, descending down the steps to a stony, medieval looking corridor. A dozen cells on each side lined the dark hallway, and they were all empty, save for one that held numerous people, overflowing out of it. The three made their way in, Dumbledore's presence seeming to cause people to disperse and let them through.

There was Yaxley, slouched in a corner, his clothes still dirty and stained with blood where his shoulder was pierced by Harry's knife. His eyes were slightly wider than what would be natural, staring off into space in a different way than he had been back in the atrium restroom. His mouth stayed open, not gaping wide, but as if it fell open during a deep sleep. Three wizards were casting spells in odd motions around him, seemingly trying to save him from his catatonic state, to no avail.

"Out of my way before I blast you into the wall!" Harry turned quickly to find Madam Bones joining them in the dungeon, brandishing her wand and daring the bystanders to remain in her path. Most of them wised up and departed back to the Auror offices. "How in the blazes did this happen?!"

"The second death eater kissed by a dementor, Amelia. It appears that someone is attempting to cover up the return of Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore, ignoring the gasps of the few people in the room that remained. "You might consider double checking that your aurors are capable of the patronus charm."

Madam Bones sighed. "Enough with your theories, Albus. You still have not given me a shred of proof regarding his return."

"Proof that you no doubt would have had Magnus here not been kissed. I could offer you Harry's memory, with his permission, of course, but I am not certain that you would accept that as it was so long ago."

"You know me too well." She smirked at the headmaster, then turned to Harry. "Speaking of you, Mr. Potter, I was in the middle of a very intriguing discovery before I found out about Yaxley here. Would you three care to join me in my office?" Harry, Dumbledore and Tonks all looked at each other confusedly, before Dumbledore nodded and made his way out of the dungeon, followed by the other two. Madam Bones turned to the wizards tending to Yaxley. "It's no use," she said, dejectedly. "Leave him here; he's still got to stand trial for the unforgivables, soul or not."

Once they all got into the office, Madam Bones flourished her wand at the walls, casting what were most likely silencing charms. "And what did you need to speak with us about, Amelia?" asked Dumbledore with an amused smile on his face.

Bones ignored the old man and looked at Harry, studying him for a moment. Harry felt very uncomfortable, and was relieved when she finally spoke. "After your trial, Harry, I went down to Mafalda Hopkirk's office to tell her that the magic you performed this morning was in self-defense and that she didn't have to penalize you. Do you have any idea what her reaction was?"

Harry just smirked. 'Sorry, Sirius,' he thought. He had gone just one day without blowing the news that he was able to do magic. "I'd reckon she didn't know I'd done magic, Ma'am." He avoided the gaze of Dumbledore, but noticed that Tonks had a knowing look in her eyes.

Bones continued the conversation. "Yes, that was exactly the situation. Very good, Mr. Potter. Now, according to my knowledge, there are two ways to stop your magic from being tracked. One is to turn seventeen. How old did you turn today, again?"

"Fifteen, Ma'am." Again, he smirked, feeling like Yaxley appeared, up in the bathroom, caught in a corner. But what confused him slightly was what was wrong about where the conversation was going. Yes, he was emancipated, but that wasn't illegal, was it?

"So it must be the other explanation, then. You were recently emancipated, weren't you?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, still confused.

"By your godfather, Sirius Black?" There it was.

"Amelia, I assure you, this is a mistake," said Dumbledore. "There is no way that Harry could have –"

"There's no way to fool the trace, Albus. It must be removed, and there are only two ways to do that. Now, Mr. Potter, you and I, along with the auror in charge of Black's capture, are going to have a chat, and I suggest you stay truthful."

A sigh came from Dumbledore. "Very well, Amelia."

Madam Bones' eyebrows raised. "Very well, _what_, Albus?"

"I know that you've been trying to uncover whatever you can about the organization I have gathered together for the purposed of countering Lord Voldemort's return to power, whether you believe the rumors or not. You've been trying admirable to keep your investigation under wraps, but I daresay this old man still has a few tricks."

Her eyes squinted at the headmaster. "And what does this have to do with Potter and Black?"

"I know exactly where Mr. Black is right now. In fact, not only is he involved in our efforts to stop the dark lord's second rise to power, but Harry here is currently living at his house." Harry now avoided Madam Bones' gaze as Dumbledore retrieved a length of rope from his pocket and said, "Portus. I was hoping to let you figure out about the Order of the Phoenix before inviting you to join, but it seems now would be the most appropriate time. You can escort us to Mr. Black's home, which is our headquarters, before deciding your next course of action."

Bones looked incredibly suspicious as she looked at Dumbledore, trying to decide whether to believe him or stun him. "I'll want to bring Kingsley. He's in charge of the Black investigation."

The old man chuckled. "That won't be necessary. He's been in the Order for months."

As Dumbledore held out the rope, Harry and Tonks each grabbed a part of it, and Madam Bones, through even narrower eyes, stared at him, then back to the portkey, then at Dumbledore again. Finally, it seemed like her curiosity got the best of her, and as she grabbed the rope, the four of them made their way to Grimmauld Place.

**a/n** Please read and review as always. Thanks to those who read and thanks even more those who review regularly.


	8. Happy Birthday, Harry

Tonks nervously watched Dumbledore unlock the door to Grimmauld Place, unsure of what was going to go down inside. She knew what was waiting for them, and wasn't certain about how Madam Bones' presence would affect it.

The sitting room was completely dark and silent, something that didn't go unnoticed by Harry, who took his wand out. "Why is it so quiet in here, sir?"

"I assure you Harry, it is not anything that requires any worry," Dumbledore answered in the usual maddeningly vague manner. Tonks smiled as Harry reluctantly put his wand away. The world might have been in store for another Mad-Eye.

Madam Bones, however, made no effort to put away her wand, and looked ready to pounce if Dumbledore had a trap to spring on her. Tonks held back a grin, because what Bones expected was far from what was awaiting in the dining room. The four of them crossed the kitchen.

"I believe you should go first, Harry."

The teenager stepped forward, still cautious. He put his hand on the door and pushed, and at once the room ahead of them was illuminated.

"Surprise!" came roars of a dozen-or-so Order Members and friends, as they all stepped into the dining room and saw everyone smiling at Harry, some holding presents, some balloons, and in Molly's case, a large birthday cake with a hippogriff iced onto the top. A banner spread across one wall, reading 'Happy Birthday, Harry' in red and gold letters, with a golden snitch weaving through them.

The grins on most of the faces faded somewhat due to the fact that Madam Bones had walked in behind Dumbledore, Tonks, and Harry. Ron looked about to ask who the woman was, but Hermione elbowed him in the ribs and led him over to Harry, while Dumbledore made an announcement. "Order Members, we will have a short meeting here in the dining room before the party commences. Children, if you would retire upstairs, we will not take long." He aimed his wand and cast his phoenix patronus, which disappeared into the north wall of the room.

Madam Bones jerked her head to where the phoenix had left. "What was that?"

"An additional use of the patronus charm, which I have recently finished crafting. It can now be used to carry messages long distance, though it does require a corporeal patronus. Lily Potter did most of the research before she died, and I was finally able to complete it this past June. Knowledge of it is exclusive to the Order, and its few associates who are not members."

Hermione grabbed Harry, who was extremely interested in this piece of information about his mother's research, and dragged him to where Ginny and the twins were. Sirius cautiously approached Tonks and Madam Bones, an understandably nervous look on his face.

"Long time, no see, Amelia," he said shakily. "Joining the Order, then?"'

"Haven't decided, yet, Sirius," she responded coldly. "At the moment, I'm leading towards arresting you and the dozens of people that apparently have been harboring you. We'll see how it goes."

Sirius didn't look like he had anything to say back to the DMLE director. Harry had broken away from the rest of the teens and Hermione looked ready to convince him to come with her, but Dumbledore interjected.

"Harry, I would like you to join us for the beginning of the meeting. You can join your friends afterward." Harry nodded and Tonks could definitely see excitement in his eyes, though he kept a stern face on. Today had to be one big blur for Harry, and the events didn't seem to be winding down just yet.

The headmaster waved his wand and vanished the cake and presents from the table, assuring Harry that they would return, though Tonks doubted that the boy cared. Order members began filling the table, and soon everyone found a seat. Harry sat in between Tonks and Sirius, who had Remus on his other side. Madam Bones sat across from Sirius, and glared at him with the same contempt that Tonks had sported months earlier. At least Bones hadn't cursed him yet.

"I call this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to order," said Dumbledore from his usual spot at the head of the table. "There is much to discuss, namely Harry's trial and the attack on him and Pius Thicknisse. Today, however, we will keep it short. I'm sure you've notice our guest." He gestured to Madam Bones, who smirked as he continued.

"Amelia, while the types of evidence we can present to you are not what you yourself or the Ministry would consider concrete, I ask that you wait until the end of this presentation to make a decision on whether to arrest the lot of us." As she momentarily shifted her glare from Sirius to Dumbledore, the door burst open and Snape walked in with a slight limp. He was not looking very good. The potions master barely nodded at anybody except Dumbledore, and handed him a vial of a clear liquid: Veritaserum. Snape then took the empty seat on Dumbledore's right.

The headmaster used his wand to levitate the vial down the table to Madam Bones. "Amelia, I'm sure you would like to test the veritaserum to ensure potency."

"This is a Ministry-controlled substance, Dumbledore," she said sternly. "Non-mandated use of it is worth a year-long stint in Azkaban."

"We can add that to my growing list of crimes." Dumbledore smiled at her and gestured for her to carry on.

Reluctantly, she waved her wand around the vial a couple of times, and nodded when it glowed a light shade of purple for a second. Sirius held his mouth open, tongue out. He had an amused look in his eyes. Dumbledore levitated the vile across the table and tipped a drop onto the man's tongue.

Sirius made a scowling face. "Damn disgusting stuff. And you know that's the truth." He cleared his throat. "Proceed."

Madam Bones looked at Sirius through narrowed eyes. "Your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black."

"Are you, or have you ever been a Death Eater?"

"No," he answered with a pointed smile. It seemed that Sirius' confidence and charm was enough to break through the veil of subdued indifference that usually accompanied the potion.

"Did you betray the location of James and Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort, leading to their deaths?"

"No. It was Peter Pettigrew who did that." His tone was graver, not triumphant as it had been before.

"Peter Pettigrew is dead," Bones corrected.

"Peter faked his death after he murdered the muggles that I was accused of killing. Not that I was ever convicted, never being given a trial. He was made their secret-keeper at the last minute, and it took less than a week for Voldemort to find them."

It took Madam Bones a moment to respond with another question, finding out that this man who for years was seen as a menace was in fact, framed. "How did you escape Azkaban?"

"Peter and I are unregistered animagi. In the summer of '93, I found out that he was posing as a student's pet at Hogwarts, in the same dorm with Harry. I turned into a dog and snuck through the cage door."

Dumbledore joined in. "Any other questions, Amelia?" As she shook her head, he continued. "Harry, if you will hold your mouth open for questioning." Harry did so, and a drop of veritaserum fell into his mouth as well. The disgust on his face was obvious. "Amelia, I'm sure you have questions for Harry."

Madam Bones continued the questions right away, not bothering with Harry's name. "What happened after the third task of the TriWizard Tournament?"

Harry spared no detail as he described the events of the ritual he was used in. He couldn't push past the subdued demeanor like Sirius could, so he spoke in a monotone manner. Tonks had heard the account second-hand from Dumbledore, but it was heart-breaking to see Harry recount it, and the pain in his eyes made it so that she could barely stand looking at him, and at the same time couldn't turn away.

After Harry was done, Madam Bones just stared. Everyone just stared. Harry had recounted Voldemort's return in full truth, or at least what Harry perceived as the truth. There was the possibility that both Harry and Sirius were brainwashed into believing their own stories, but it was astronomically small, and Tonks could see that Madam Bones knew this.

"Amelia," said Dumbledore. "Lord Voldemort is most certainly back. Even if one doesn't believe Harry and Sirius' testimonies, there are signs all around us. Things are happening that are strikingly similar to the Dark Lord's first uprising. At the moment, both the Order and the Death Eaters are in the recruitment phase, and not just witches and wizards. We have already sent envoys to the giants, and vampires. While the former is still undecided about whether to join the war or stay out of it, we have successfully convinced the vampires to stay neutral. Remus here has been working on meeting with some of the friendlier werewolf clans.

"We are doing our best to counteract all that Voldemort is up to, thanks in large to part to the intelligence of Severus Snape here." He motioned to Snape, who was still wincing in pain but did his best to put on the bored expression that he usually sported at meetings. "There are certain things that we do and will have to do in the very near future, and they will be more easily done without the limits of the law. That is why the Order must exist. We can work very smoothly with the Aurors, even more so with your involvement. Will you join us in the fight against the Dark Lord?"

Madam Bones did not look like she was enjoying the current situation. In truth, Tonks did not see that she had much choice. The fidelius charm protected the Order, so Bones wouldn't be able to return to Grimmauld Place with aurors, unless it was Tonks and Kingsley. She liked the woman, but she was already prepared to assist the dozen people at the table in resisting arrest if it had come to that.

Thankfully, it didn't. "What will I need to do?" Bones asked Dumbledore.

"Among a vast amount of other contributions, your skills with a wand will obviously be a resource once Voldemort resurfaces and goes on the offensive. It also is of no small value to have someone so high in the Ministry on our side, to discourage Fudge from being, well, Fudge. You seem to excel at keeping him in line anyway, however."

With a tiny nod, Bones accepted her membership, and Dumbledore inducted her in with the same routine that all members went through. Never had Tonks seen the woman look so defeated, and she couldn't blame her. As well-meaning as the Order was, it went against dozens of laws and decrees, and Dumbledore had just admitted to its illegality. Bones really was going against all she stood for, but if she hadn't seen that this was a necessary move, she wouldn't have made it.

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. "Am I correct in guessing that Sirius will not be getting his fugitive status revoked?"

"As high up as I am, I wouldn't be able convince Fudge to take away his decree that you'll be kissed by a dementor on sight, Sirius, so you won't be likely to get a trial, not without rock-solid evidence." She looked at him awkwardly, the cold demeanor she had sported earlier was gone, but there was still tension there. "The only way to remove it is to capture Pettigrew, which should be enough to at least get you a trial."

"And that will be close to impossible, as Voldemort apparently keeps Pettigrew close to avoid exposure to his return." Sirius' minutes of hope faded from his face as Dumbledore spoke with regret. "Finally, Harry," the teen looked up. "Before you rejoin your friends, we would like you to extract your memory of the incident involving Magnus Yaxley and Pius Thicknisse this morning. Sirius?"

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated, and Sirius pulled the memory out of his head. Dumbledore flicked his wand, and his pensieve appeared on the center of the table. Sirius guided the strand of memory into the pensieve and stirred it.

"Thank you, Harry. Please join your friends, and we will be out shortly." Reluctantly, Harry got up and left, as Dumbledore expanded the pensieve's image to the entire table, and the Order got to see Harry's duel with Yaxley much as the Wizengamot got to see his incident with the dementors.

Tonks thought that Harry performed marvelously, for his first duel with a fully-fledged Death Eater, something that no Order member had experience with in thirteen years. If it had not been for Yaxley's cruciatus curse and Harry's slight failure to dodge it, he might have won the duel.

"The boy lives up to the legend," said Kingsley.

Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. This bit of news hasn't gotten out to the public yet, but Yaxley was attacked and kissed by a dementor while in auror custody." Shocked faces and murmurs filled the room. "Severus, I trust that your painful demeanor means that the Dark Lord was not pleased with the day's events?"

"Yes. I happened to be the closest to the Dark Lord at the time that he found out."

Bones asked the next question, barely reacting to the news that Snape was a death eater. It wasn't that surprising, really. "Is it at all possible that he is behind the dementor attacks? That makes three so far, if we include Crouch's kiss after the tournament. This is beginning to be quite a problem."

"If he is behind it, it hasn't been made apparent to me. He most definitely has motive, however. He is, for the most part, still believed dead by the public, and would like to keep it that way for the time being, so any death eaters recently taken into custody would be nothing but loose ends for him. And obviously, Potter being kissed would have proved beneficial to him."

Dumbledore took back over. "We will need to pay close attention to this. If it is not Voldemort behind this, it is most certainly someone in the Ministry trying to cover up his return, which means that those of us in the Ministry must keep our eyes and ears open. Now, onto other disturbing matters, Madam Bones found out that Harry was emancipated today, Sirius. Would you care to elaborate?"

Remus, with a roll of his eyes that said he should have known, glared at Sirius, while Tonks smirked sadly at him as her cousin cleared his throat. "I don't regret it. Harry needs to be able to do magic if he's to learn to defend himself properly, and not just at school. I will not stand by idly while a psychopath hunts him and he can't even train to do anything about it. I was careful, obviously, as we were not even caught out in Diagon Alley."

"I was not aware that you even had the means to leave headquarters," Dumbledore pushed.

"I was not aware of your requirement that I tell you everything about my house, Dumbledore. The only thing this does is help Harry prepare better for whenever Voldemort inevitably attacks him. It being harder for you to control him is just a perk." He waited, daring Dumbledore to respond to his comment.

The headmaster didn't, and Sirius smiled. "Call me irresponsible if you want; I've already given you my reasons and you can't unemancipate him, so we can drop it."

"Will Potter be joining the Order, then?" asked Hestia Jones after a moment, breaking the tension in the room. "The main problem with his joining was his inability to do magic, wasn't it?"

"Harry still is at school 9 months out of the year. There would no point to inducting him before he graduates, if the war lasts that long." No one at the table seemed surprised at Dumbledore's response, and none of them replied to it. "Before we end the meeting, I understand that the opportunity to speak with the werewolves has finally arrived. Am I correct, Remus?"

The werewolf nodded. "My contact has gotten me an hour with Sebastian Blackwood and his advisors. His clan is the biggest neutral group, and only Greyback's is bigger. The meeting will happen in a few days."

"This is very good news, Remus. I only ask that you take Tonks with you for the meeting."

"What?" the response was no shock. "You cannot be serious. It took me months to even get to speak with a clan, and I'm a werewolf. You can't expect a normal witch to be able to march in with me; I'm enough of an outsider as it is." His voice was raising a bit, though not enough to qualify as a yell, he wouldn't dare yell at Dumbledore.

"Tonks?" Dumbledore signaled, and Tonks squinted her face to enlarge her brow and grow rather bushy sideburns. Also, her nose shrunk in a bit more into an almost snout-like appearance. She looked like most magical werewolves ended up looking when they did not learn to control their magic. "And before you say that she will not pass the smell test," Dumbledore cast a spell down the table at Tonks that appeared to have no effect, but he explained. "Please let me know if she still does not have a werewolf's scent."

The defeated look on Remus' face answered for him. Dumbledore continued. "It would be foolish to walk into a werewolf clan by yourself, Remus. Two people would be pushing it, but I trust the two of you. Tonks will be posing as a werewolf that never got an education, of course, and can attest to the benefits of staying neutral and out of the way of this war. I've provided a back story that she has hopefully memorized..."

"Aye, sir," she confirmed.

"And that she will pass on to you. Does anyone have additional points to bring up?" Madam Bones obviously did, but he held up a hand to cut her off. "We have a large amount to speak about at Hogwarts between ourselves, Amelia. It is my hope that you and I can split the leadership duties in the Order."

As Bones nodded, people started to get up from the table. Most were staying for the party, but Snape was first out of the door, and Dumbledore and Madam Bones left shortly after.

Tonks motioned for Sirius and Remus to join her in the kitchen, and the trio left as well. "What was with you and Madam Bones? There's something there."

Remus answered for his silent friend. "The two of them dated off-and-on after we graduated. They had just started to be 'on' again when he was framed."

"Oh, really? And is Prince Padfoot going to sweep her off of her feet this time around?" Tonks smiled at her cousin.

"That's over and done with, Tonks, and we shall be dropping it for the foreseeable future." He was flushed a deep red.

"Not likely," she winked at him.

He merely glared at her and shifted his focus to Remus. "Onto new topics, when will we be leaving to meet those werewolves?"

Remus let out a laugh. "You jest, Padfoot. The only reason I am allowing Tonks to accompany me is it is Dumbledore's orders. You would be out of your mind to think that you're going with us."

"Oh, come on, Remus," said Sirius in a very humorous whine. "Do you think I'm going to allow my best friend and cousin march into harm's way without me as backup?"

"It's a sit-down; it's about diplomacy."

"And in case it's _not_ diplomatic…"

"You're a wanted fugitive, Sirius."

"And they're not exactly chums of the Ministry either."

"You'd be another liability, not to mention the fact that you always act before you think, and you have no regard for consequences. Before you emancipated Harry you should have talked to Dumbledore, or at least to me –"

"So now I have to ask permission to exercise my right as godfather?"

"Enough!" Tonks screamed. She'd had enough. "Blimey, you lot sound like an old married couple!" The two men glared at her, but it got their attention off of each other.

"Look," she continued. "I pray to Merlin that the meeting goes as planned, Remus, but there is a chance that these werewolves aren't as neutral as we think and we'd be walking into a trap. Having Sirius there might not be so bad."

Remus sighed and looked away from both of them. Sirius smirked at him. "My dear cousin has a point, Remus." He glanced sideways at Remus and put on what Tonks guessed was his best attempt at a puppy-dog face, then threw his arms over both of their shoulders. "I think we'd make quite a team," he said, cheerfully. "Tonksy here could be out newest Marauder!"

Despite his obviously grave state, Remus chuckled again, this time a sincere one. "She'd need a more original nickname."

"Oh yes. Like yours, Moony. Has Tonks learned about the other half of where it came from?"

"Sirius –"

"It was the first day of term, fourth year, and we decided to prank each other exclusively for the first month," said Sirius, pausing every few words to let out a laugh. "I got the idea to vanish his school robes on the walk to the carriages, and apparently James previously vanished everything underneath as well, none of us being any the wiser. Oh it was quite a sight for the entire school to see, I'll tell you that!"

"Not funny, Sirius!" shouted Remus as he stormed out of the kitchen into the dining room to join the party, leaving Tonks and her cousin on the floor rolling in laughter.

* * *

Harry inhaled a second helping of treacle tart and called it quits. The party had been going on all day, and dinner was coming to a close. A few people were still left at the dinner table, but only Hermione and Ron were near him, while Sirius, Tonks, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were on the other end.

"Harry, are you okay?" asked Hermione. Harry almost rolled his eyes, since he had answered this question the exact same way a dozen times throughout the day, but then he realized that the three of them were now alone for the first time today. So, he gave her a chance to expand.

"How do you mean?"

Ron answered for her. "First you save someone again, almost get captured, then you still have to stand trial?" The redhead sighed. "I can't believe I used to envy your life." Harry almost said 'thanks' in a dry, sarcastic way, but it had been years of wanting Ron to admit that there wasn't much to be jealous about in Harry's world.

Hermione made sure the adults were deep in discussion about something before she leaned in closer to Harry, Ron doing the same. She whispered, "What happened at the meeting?"

"Later," was all he said, and he was grateful when they both nodded, understanding that a few of the best minds in the country were in and out of this house and could be listening in. He was sure none of them wanted to divulge the Order meeting to Ron and Hermione, though it really was foolish to assume he wouldn't do so.

Tonks came over after a bit and sat with them, smiling. Hermione took Ron by the hand and led him away, giving Harry a strange glance before leaving. He narrowed his eyes confusedly as his friends walked away, then turned to Tonks. "So is there any chance of getting to know anything about the Order meeting after I left? As a birthday present?" he joked, his lip protruding in a feigned puppy dog look.

She giggled and shook her head. "Not a chance, mister. And I've already gotten you a present; we can't go spoiling you, now can we?" She flicked her wand and a narrow box appeared on the table in front of him. Intrigued, Harry unwrapped the bow and opened the box, revealing a wand holster.

"It's state of the art," Tonks explained. "Standard issue for aurors. It attaches to your forearm underneath your robes, and shoots your wand into your hand with just a thought. And your wand can't possibly be summoned while it's in the holster. The thing itself can't be summoned either, guess they thought of that loophole." She spoke with true passion, and Harry wasn't sure if the sparkle in her eyes was a metamorphmagus thing or just her love for this kind of stuff coming out.

"It's brilliant," Harry said, letting loose a very small laugh and a grin. "And…perfect. Thank you" There was that eye contact again, longer than normal eye contact should be, but he wasn't complaining. Without warning, the light purple color of her eyes changed to a dark grey. An intake of breath came from her as she broke the eye contact and lowered her head. The two of them chuckled nervously and looked at the table, and Harry, needing something for at least his hand to do, reached out for the last treacle tart left on the tray, without looking at it. Apparently, Tonks had thought of the same thing.

When their hands touched, electricity ran through Harry's hand up his arm and into his chest. He wasn't sure how long the contact lasted, but soon their eyes met again, the grey color still there, the most beautiful instance of the color that he'd ever seen. Tonks' face was caught somewhere between a pleased smile and an expression of nervousness, as if her heart was beating as strong as Harry's which he was sure couldn't be likely.

"Boo!" Sirius had snuck up on them and both of their hands retracted as if they'd been burned. "Come on, the twins swear they've perfected some sort of 'weather in a bottle' contraption, and they swear we all need to see it. Arthur's distracted Molly for a few minutes as well."

He grinned and took off to the sitting room, seemingly oblivious to what he'd interrupted, leaving Tonks and Harry in an awkward fit of laughter that was extremely short-lived. "Let's go see what those rascals are up to now. Harry birthday, Harry," she said with a calm smile, winking at him before squinting her eyes to make them purple again and heading off in Sirius' direction. Harry sighed, watching her go and wondering just what would have happened had Sirius not intervened.


End file.
